The Goddess of Time
by DoctorGogh
Summary: Rose lived her happily ever after with her Doctor in Pete's World, but now that story is over. Centuries later and Rose is living life in a new universe that is too mysterious to resist. However with Lilith trying to break the seals and Lucifer rising, Rose finds herself falling into a world that may not only have the power to bind her, but also the power to kill her - permanently.
1. Monster Movie (Part One)

Monster Movie

Something was wrong.

Rose Tyler had been stuck in the parallel world for a few years, now trapped in the same year after her vortex manipulator broke down. Everything had been relatively safe, the universe she'd found herself in after she left Pete's World wasn't her original. However, it also didn't have lots of contact with aliens. She'd only faced one invasion, and it really wasn't even much of one. The aliens had been lost, confused, and honestly just needed directions. Rose had been more then happy to oblige.

Now she'd wished she'd taken them up on their offer to go with them. A couple hops through time across three galaxies, and a run in with a talking potato later, and her vortex manipulator broke down. She wasn't sure why, since there was no reasonable explanation for it. Rose had simply arrived in some town and then 'poof', her manipulator went dead and refused to respond. This dilemma brought back the earlier one of little alien contact. There wasn't enough tech around for her to fix her machine. So she was stuck.

It seemed the longer that Rose stayed in the little town in Pennsylvania that she'd ended up in, the stronger the feeling became that something was, in fact, wrong. She quickly set up a false name and life at one of the bars in town. Oktoberfest had rolled into town a week later and that's when it happened. A woman was murdered, two puncture wounds to the neck.

Everyone was talking about it, and about the witness, Ed Brewer. Rose had been meaning to talk to him about it since it'd happened a few days ago. He fancied Rose and she was sure he'd tell her everything. Though from what everyone was saying, he'd been telling everything to everyone anyway. A vampire. He'd seen a _vampire_. Rose was inclined to believe him, but she didn't want to get her hopes up. She'd never met a vampire before.

Rose stopped where she was on the sidewalk to fix her shoe. She glanced up from her spot and that's when she noticed them. They fit her "something's wrong" vibe she had been getting from this town the second she got stuck there. Two tall men in suits and chowing down on some giant pretzels. She wasn't sure what about them fit into the puzzle, but suddenly Rose felt like she hit a gold mine.

She stood back up and made her way past them on her way to the bar. Rose smiled at them, "Guten tag," she greeted. She felt both their eyes on her as she sashayed her way into the bar. Hopefully that would get them to go in so she could talk to them or serve them. There was something about them that seemed familiar, she just couldn't place it.

Whatever was going on, she knew they'd be involved. Rose didn't even have to use her power over Bad Wolf to figure it out. Whatever was different about this universe over Pete's World and her original one, it made her more powerful. Sometimes she could simply know things without interacting with the Time Vortex. She wasn't sure if it was because she was more powerful, or because the Time Vortex was different.

There was still a Time Vortex here, but there was something off about it. As if someone had gone in and woven another thread of something unknown into what was there before. It hadn't harmed Rose, or weakened her, so she hadn't looked too hard into it. Now that she was trapped, she really couldn't do much about it even if she wanted to. She really should have left the second she got stuck, it was going to take a miracle for her to find alien tech to help her fix her vortex manipulator. But that "something was wrong" feeling kept her where she was.

Rose came around the bar and stuffed her purse underneath. She smiled at Lucy, her coworker and set about cleaning off the bar. Lucy was a sweet girl, if a bit odd. She had curly dark hair and painted lips. She'd never been anything but nice to Rose, trying to make the girl feel at home in the new town. Rose didn't know what it was, but there was something off about her as well, something off about the whole town. She wasn't sure what it was, but suddenly those men were here and she knew they were the ones she should be talking to. Or at the very least, keeping an eye on.

"How was your night, Marion?" Lucy asked with a smile. Marion was the name Rose had started to use when she ended up in Pennsylvania. The last thing she needed was people looking up a Rose Tyler and finding out she didn't exist, or worse, she did.

Rose shrugged and pulled some dirty plates and glasses off the bar and into a tub to be bussed to the back. "Alrigh', sor' of quiet. Read a book, had a cuppa."

Lucy nodded, her smile still in place. "That sounds wonderful." Rose shrugged. She'd rather have been travelling through time, or space, or running for her life as something not human chased her. She wasn't picky.

Lucy disappeared to take care of her customers and Rose continued to man the bar. Ed was sitting in the back corner of the restaurant and Rose itched to go talk to him. She glanced around the bar and quickly filled up a pint. Before anyone could notice, she slipped out from her station and headed to the gangly man. He was all arms and legs, dark hair and a pointed nose. Rose gave him her most charming smile. Ed's heart stopped for a moment.

"Hi'ya Ed." Rose greeted warmly. She set the pint of his favourite beer down and winked. "Holdin' up okay?" Ed swallowed and nodded. Rose glanced around the bar. "They're not pickin' on you, are they?" He shook his head, still unable to speak. "Mind if I join you for a sec?" Ed's eyes widened and he nodded frantically.

Rose smiled, her tongue poking out from between her teeth. She slid into the booth across from him and leaned on the table with her arms crossed. Ed swallowed. "Ed?" She asked sweetly. "Wha' happened?"

Ed let out a sigh and shook his head. "You'll never believe me, Marion. No one does." He took a gulp from his new pint that Rose had brought and cast his eyes down on the table top.

Rose leaned forward and ducked her head a bit until she caught his gaze. She smiled warmly. "How can you say I won't believe you, when ya haven't let me try yet?"

Ed studied her for a long moment, judging her level of sincerity. He nodded and took another large gulp of beer. "Alright. So It was just after I left here the other night. I cut across the park and thought I saw this couple — you know… kissing." Rose nodded and played with one of her hoop earrings as she listened. Ed suddenly shook his head vigorously. "They weren't kissing. She was struggling and he… he was biting her neck."

Rose frowned. "Who was?"

Ed leaned forward, drawing Rose closer. He hesitated, took a moment to look down her top, then continued. "A vampire."

Rose gasped, just the way she figured she ought to. She reached her hand out and grabbed Ed's. "Oh my god, you saw a vampire." She shook her head, pretending to be distraught and anxious. Inside she was simply trying to keep her hopes down. Rose really wanted to battle a vampire… at Oktoberfest. Almost as good as Dickens and ghosts.

Ed leaned back and nodded proudly. "Yeah, and I survived."

"Oh Ed." Rose smiled and tried to look awed and not at all creepied out by his obvious ogling. "What did it look like?"

Ed leaned forward again, engrossed in the topic. "Classic you know? Slicked back hair and a cape, a medallion." He gestured to his collar area.

Rose frowned and tilted her head to the side a bit. "A medallion?" Possibly an alien device to keep him looking like a vampire? He could be in disguise — a very twisted and stupid disguise — or it could all be a joke. What sort of vampire dressed up like a vampire?

Ed nodded. "Yeah, a gold thing with ribbon and stuff." He grabbed Rose's hand and held onto it tightly. "You believe me, don't you Marion?"

"Of course I do Ed." She glanced around the bar. "But I've to get back to work." She slid her hand from his grasp and stood up. "Thanks for tellin' me Ed, means the world." She gestured to the pint she had brought. "Drink 's on me." She winked and quickly headed back to her station behind the bar.

A vampire who liked classic films. A vampire who didn't care if others knew it was a vampire. Rose was inclined to believe that it wasn't a vampire at all. If it was a vampire, it wouldn't want people going around knowing that it was one.

It was almost an hour before the two men in suits appeared in the bar. Rose's attention was instantly brought to them and she almost dropped the two pints she was handing to Lucy.

Then she saw it. She didn't know how she missed it before. The shorter one had this wispy gold aura around him, like the regeneration energy her Doctor had let out after he'd changed. Except it clearly wasn't that, it was more orange and more glittery. It was the same thing that was different with this planet's Time Vortex. Rose also had the mist rolling off of her, which meant only one thing. The shorter one had travelled through time before.

Rose smiled at them as they stopped at the bar. Hope was dancing on the edges of her heart and she knew nothing was going to keep it at bay for long. "I remember you." Rose greeted to the shorter one. He had bright green eyes and short hair. He was dead handsome, so was the other. They were brothers. The fact plucked itself from the Time Vortex and drifted into Rose's mind.

"And I remember you…" The green eyed one answered and looked down at her name tag. "Marion." He smiled what was clearly his most charming smile and Rose could really see why. "I never forget a pretty…everything."

And there it was, the other thing she'd noticed. There was something very Captain Jack Harkness about this man.

"We're looking for Ed Brewer." Rose turned to the taller one when he said this. He had brown hair and hazel eyes much like Rose's. However, since swallowing all of Time, Rose's had become much more gold then his greenish brown colour.

Rose pursed her lips. "Wha' do you want with Ed?" She glanced over the shorter one's shoulder to see Ed sipping his beer stein.

The shorter one, Rose was inclined to believe he was the older one, despite the height difference. "Well, we are, uh...federal agents." He and his, apparently partner, pulled out their badges. Rose took the one closest to her, and saw that the shorter man shared the name to a music artist. "Mr. Brewer was witness to a serious crime." The supposed Neil Young explained.

The badges were completely fake. She didn't even need any powers to see that. Enough years at Torchwood scoping out alien's and their aliases had done that for her. Granted, they were very good fakes, but fakes nonetheless.

So that's where the Captain Jack Harkness vibe had come from. Conmen? No, but they clearly shared some similar characteristics.

Rose looked up at him from beneath her eyelashes. "You're a fed?" She handed the badge back to 'Neil'.

'Neil' smiled and leaned on the bar and grinned charmingly again. Rose would be lying if she said it didn't have a serious effect on her. "I'm a maverick, ma'am." He gestured with his hands. "A rebel with a badge."

Rose laughed. "I'll bet you are." She could see herself and Jack standing before Big Ben during the London Blitz. This man was just like him and it made her psychically ache with the loss that was her past.

The man's partner, rolled his eyes. He smiled, annoyed. "Okay, maverick. So, where can we find Mr. Brewer?"

Rose raised an eyebrow at 'Neil' who finally backed off the bar and straightened out his suit. Rose nodded to the corner of the restaurant. "Tha's him, over there. He's been drinkin' a bit though. So go easy, he's had it tough the past couple days."

'Neil' thanked her and winked. He and his partner headed over to Ed. Rose bit her lip as she watched them introduce themselves and sit down. She desperately wanted to be over there and here what was happening but knew that if she went over they'd probably stop and politely wait until she left again.

Rose turned around and put her back to the room. She pretended to be searching for something as her eyes glowed gold.

"_I told the cops everything I saw._" She heard Ed's words echo through Time and into her mind. "_No one believes me. Except for Marion._"

"_Marion?_" 'Neil' — no, she realized with the Time Vortex swimming through her head, his name was Dean. "_The bar maid?_"

Ed's longing sigh echoed through Time to Rose. "_She's a goddess._"

"_Right_."

"Hey, Marion?" Rose gasped and her eyes flew open. The gold receded from them almost immediately and Rose swung around to Lucy. "Whoa." Lucy took a step back and shook her head. "Sorry, for a second…" She laughed as Rose desperately fought down her panic. That had been far too close. "You alright?"

Rose plastered on a smile and said, "I'm always alright." She turned around to tend the bar again and watched Ed talk animately to the conmen. "They're chekin' up on tha' murdered woman case, I think."

Lucy rolled her eyes and tossed her curly hair to the side as she leaned a hip against the bar. "Crazy Ed and his vampire story."

Rose frowned at Lucy. "He's not crazy. I believe him."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "You believe that girl was attacked by a vampire?"

"I believe tha's wha' he _saw_. Who are we to say different?"

Lucy gave Rose an indecipherable look. Something caught between suspicion, hope, and awe. "You believe in the impossible?"

Rose smiled broadly. "Ya kiddin' me? Wha' else is there to believe in?"

Lucy laughed and rolled her eyes again. "You're just saying that 'cause they guy has a crush on you and tips you in $20s." Lucy picked up a napkin and blotted her lipstick. She set it down on the bar and headed over to one of the regulars as they called her name. Rose watched her leave, wondering still about that look Lucy had given her.

Dean walked up to the bar then and smiled. "So, you got a beer back there for me?"

Rose smiled flirtatiously. "Dunno, are even maverick's allowed to drink on duty?"

Dean raised his eyebrows and nodded his head in acknowledgement to the apt statement. "Well maybe I'm off duty."

Rose leaned forward on the bar. "Are you?" She bantered back. They stared at each other for a moment before his partner came up to join him. Rose stepped back and began to gather some dirty mugs on the counter.

The taller partner picked up Lucy's old napkin for a moment. He set it back down and turned to lean against the bar as he faced the restaurant.

"So, what do you think?" Dean asked him. Rose moved as quietly as possible in order to hear them. "Goth, psycho vampire wannabe, right?"

"Definitely not our kind of case." His partner replied. Their kind of case? Rose thought. Her curiosity instantly piqued.

"Agreed. But who cares?" They headed towards a table and a minute later Rose heard Dean call out to her, "Hey, bar wench, where's that beer?"

Rose paused in her motion to fill the empty beer glass in her hand. She raised an eyebrow at Dean and said back, "'s about to be in your lap if you call me wench again." His partner burst into laughter and Dean's ears went a bit pink. Rose smiled and winked at him. She filled the large glass and headed over to them. "There you go then, fellow peasant." Rose smiled at him mischievously.

Dean nodded. "Alright. I admit it, I deserve that one."

Rose nodded back. "As long as you know it, mate." She turned to his partner. "What can I get you, then?"

Dean shook his head. "Oh, he doesn't drink. He's a christian scientist. Doesn't even take aspirin. He's a real drag on stakeouts."

Rose frowned, completely missing the humour. "Tha's a shame." She smiled sympathetically at the unnamed partner. "If it makes ya feel any better, you're not missin' out on much with the aspirin. My husband was deathly allergic to it, and he turned out only partly manic." The partner smiled and laughed under his breath,

Dean frowned at her. She looked to be barely in her early twenties. "You're married?"

Rose shook her head. "Widowed."

The men both gave her sympathetic looks. Looks Rose had gotten very used to from her family when the Doctor had passed away. "I'm sorry." The partner said.

Rose shrugged a little despondently. "It was a long time ago." It was. Decades in fact. Rose didn't want to say it had been a century, though she was sure it had been multiple.

Dean raised an eyebrow at the girl. Once again, he noted her age. He highly doubted it was that long ago. More accurately, they hadn't known each other long. Gunshot marriage and he passed away. It was probably to fast for their to be time to love and mourn. Dean had no idea that it was the complete opposite. Rose and the Doctor had had decades together, and it'd been centuries she'd spent apart now. Rose had grieved, and now she had moved on. Her family had passed and she decided to was high time for a new adventure.

A new universe.

Rose looked to Dean's partner again. "You're sure you're fine?" He nodded. Rose shrugged and smiled. "Well you boys let me know if ya need anythin', yeah?" The fake FBI agents smiled in agreement and Rose wandered away. She watched them talk for a bit, the taller one looking on the verge of laughter for majority of the conversation. Rose was more then a bit intrigued, she was downright curious. If she were in Pete's World, she would have pegged them as Torchwood agents scouting out for a rogue alien instantly. But this wasn't Pete's World, and there wasn't enough alien activity for that sort of need.

Rose was just washing down the bar again when Dean came over. His partner wasn't with him. Rose belated realized that a bit of time had passed and the taller one had probably gone home. "Hey," Dean greeted.

Rose smiled. "Wha' can I do for ya?"

Dean leaned forward on the bar and smiled. "It's more of what _I_ can do for _you_ — M'lady." Rose raised an eyebrow but couldn't stop the smile that slipped through at the 'M'lady' part. "How about tonight?"

Rose pursed her lips and considered. She didn't have any plans and it really would be a benefit to try and figure out what he was really there for. But no, Rose was going to run some scans in the area that night. Whatever was giving her the bad feeling was sure to register on some scans. Putting that off to end an innocent persons life.

"Sorry," Rose responded with a regretful tilt to her head, "I promised Lucy a girls' night out." Dean glanced over to the curly haired waitress serving a table. Rose smiled, her tongue poking out between her teeth and winked. "Maybe tomorrow, if you're lucky?"

Dean sighed and shook his head. He was going to dream about those lips and that tongue tonight — if he didn't dream of Hell. "I wish I could. I don't think we're staying on the case."

"Wha'? To complicated for you?" Rose grinned teasingly again.

"Not complicated enough." Dean responded.

He turned to leave, but Rose spoke again. "Tha's ridiculous." He turned back around and raised an eyebrow inquiringly. "'s not complicated wha' happened to the man, but you're not gonna help? Someone's dead, everyone who can help should help."

Dean sat down on the stool in front of her and leaned forward on the bar with his elbows. He considered her for a moment, thinking over what Ed had said earlier. "You believe him then?"

Rose picked up a glass and began drying it with a cloth. "Ed? Yeah, I believe he saw what he saw. Doesn't mean tha's what really happened, but 's what he saw. 's still evidence and it can't be ignored. Besides Ed, all they've got is the body."

Dean tried to keep the smirk off his face. "So you want the FBI to believe it was a Dracula that killed this kid? A vampire with awful fashion sense and a Hungarian accent?" At the look Rose gave him, he clearly hadn't done well with holding back his smirk.

Rose leaned forward on the bar and rested her arms beneath her chest. Dean allowed himself a generously long look at the skin before him. Yeah, he thought, definitely dreaming about her tonight. "See," Rose was saying, "there's another thing." Dean dragged his gaze from her breasts and looked up at the blonde as she waved her hand and spoke. "Say vampires are real. And this really was done by one, then why aren't they trying to hide? If whatever did this really isn't human, makes you wonder what would be so horrific, it'd want us to believe it's a vampire."

Dean was surprised. Most people didn't openly talk about the possibility of nonhuman entities, nor did they do it so casually. She had a point about the vampire though, and it was something he and Sam had agreed upon. It couldn't actually be a vampire. "It's just some whack-job who wants to be famous, or friends of the night or some crap like that."

Rose nodded but continued to wave her hand, she didn't fully agree. "Yeah… but with all those movies, and books and shows about vampires now. Vampires are so much more sparkly and vegetarian and stuff. No one goes classic anymore." Rose pointed at him. "Which is a downright shame, because the classics are definitely where it's at."

Dean smiled. He stood up from his seat at the same time Rose straightened from her lean against the bar. "Well, that was an awesome brainstorm there, your Highness. But I should head back to the hotel." He winked at her and headed on out.

"I'll see you later, princess." Dean raised a brow at her, but the smile gave away his amusement. Rose grinned her tongue in teeth smile at him and winked.

* * *

Things were beginning to get beyond ridiculous. Last night they'd all but packed up and were ready to head out when they got the call about an attack in the woods. An attack that the only eyewitness, Anna Marie, had said was by a werewolf. Ripped shorts, long hair, snout, the whole nine yards. Dean was almost inclined to believe her.

Sam opened the small metal door and slid out the slab with the victim on it.

"First a Dracula and now a full on movie-time Wolf Man? What the hell is going on in this town?" His mind wandered back to what Marion had said the night before. _The classics were where it's at_, that's what she'd said. Dracula, and then Wolf Man?

Sam unzipped the body bag and both the brothers stepped back. The smell was horrendous, rotten flesh mixed with blood and other parts of the body that had been ripped open and smelled profusely.

Sam pulled out a pencil and lifted up a piece of the leftover clothing. "Whatever did this wasn't a psycho wannabe. Look at those bite marks." He pointed to a piece of the body. "Right down to the bone… And deeper."

Dean nodded. "Strong enough to tear a healthy man apart limb from limb. Could be a werewolf." There were other things too, but werewolf was what the girl had seen — no matter how movie franchised it was.

"Yeah, except, look. The heart's still there in one piece. They never leave the heart behind."

Dean rubbed his jaw. "So whatever it is, it's not a werewolf or a vampire, but it has absolutely no problem letting us believe that it's both those things." He caught his brother's eye. "Most supernatural being cover their tracks, they don't want to be found out."

Sam frowned and nodded. "So then what's going on?"

The Sheriff entered the room. "Well, I was hoping you boys could tell me. I just got a rush job back from the lab on those fibres we found on the body." He held up the evidence baggie. "Canine. Wolf hairs." Werewolves didn't have wolf hair, that was a myth.

Dean pinched the bridge of his nose and looked away. "I'm getting a headache."

Sam glanced at him then turned back to the Sheriff. "Uhh, thanks Sheriff. We'll let you know if we find anything."

The older man nodded. "'ppreciate your help on this, boys. I'll be at the station fielding calls, and the press." He nodded at them and left.

Sam zipped the body bag back up and slipped the metal slab back into place. He closed the door and looked to his older brother. "So? What are we thinking?"

Dean crossed his arms and glared at the closed door that hid the body from sight. "I'm thinking about Marion."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Man, seriously this isn't—"

Dean raised a hand and cut him off. "No — hear me out. Last night after you left I talked to her a bit about the case. She was completely open to the idea that it might not be a human doing this, brought the concept up before I did. And she mentioned something about classic films being better then the new crap." Dean gestured to the closed metal door. "I'm gonna go on a limb and say that's pretty freaking classic."

Dean headed out of the morgue, Sam easily keeping pace with him as they left. "So what are you saying?" Sam asked curiously. "Marion's the killer?"

"I don't know, man." He didn't think so. There wasn't anything about her that threw him off. Well, she was beautiful so that threw everything a bit off. He shook his head.

"So you think she's a hunter?"

"I don't know!" Dean glared at his brother, getting more frustrated by the second. He took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders. "I do know that the only way to figure it out is to get a date tonight. If she comes clean about being a hunter, then we've got more help. If another murder happens, she's got an alibi."

"And if she tries to kill you, you'll gank her."

Dean smiled grimly. "Exactly."


	2. Monster Movie (Part Two)

Nothing. Rose had gotten absolutely nothing last night. She might as well not even run any scans. She didn't understand it. The only thing alien in the vicinity was herself, the only alien tech was her own. So whatever was happening, and whatever it was that was doing it, was completely new to her. The thought terrified her just as much as it excited her.

She filled two pitchers of beer and brought them over to the two fake FBI agents. "Looks like you guys are staying a while. I heard about Rick Deacon." The kid who got mauled by, what his girlfriend had said was, a werewolf. Rose was even more peeved then before when she'd heard. She needed to figure out what the difference was in these things killing people and modify her tech to search for it. She'd be damned if she lived in any universe and let innocents be murdered.

Dean nodded at her in thanks for the beer. "Yeah, this case just got complicated enough for our department."

Rose nodded. She figured as much. "Well, drinks are on me, mate. And, just so you know, I get off at midnight tonight." Rose smiled flirtatiously. Her tech wasn't working, but if she could figure out a bit more about what these boys knew, it'd help her out.

Dean nodded appreciatively at the statement. "Oh, it's not another, uh, girls' night out?"

Rose paused. Almost forgetting her lie from the night before. She laughed. "Nah, night before didn't even pan out anyways."

"Okay, then, Queen-y. I'll see you tonight." He smiled warmly at her and lifted up his beer to take a sip.

Rose winked. "Not if I see you first, m'Lorship." She left back to the bar, her short barmaid skirt flouncing as she did.

Sam raised his eyebrows a bit. "What's with the pet names?" Dean glared at him. "Have you picked out your first born son's name yet?"

Dean took a bite from his burger. "Shut up, Sammy." He said around the food.

Sam smiled, loving the obvious discomfort rolling off of his brother. He took a sip from his beer. "Well that's good at least. She's stuck here until 12 and then you've got a date with her. If anything happens during that time, it can't be her."

Dean shrugged. "That doesn't mean she's not a hunter. She could still know something about the case." He drank his beer and frowned as he thought. "There's something off about her."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, or her British accent is making you think about Bela." Dean made a face and Sam laughed. "See?"

* * *

Rose glanced at her watch. He was late. Which meant he was either a jerk, or someone else had been murdered. Rose didn't like it. Innocents were dropping left and right and she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't remember a time she'd felt this helpless. Once this adventure was over, she was moving on. Rose had checked over her vortex manipulator on break and it was up and running again. There had been some interference from some pollen she'd picked up on another planet. However, the vortex manipulator had finally worked through it and flushed it from the system. She was good to go again, off to see the universe. But first she was being stood up.

Rose rolled her eyes and headed around the corner of the bar and down an alley. Dean was late, and she wasn't pathetic enough to wait around forever. She wanted to talk to him, but she wasn't going to be jerked around.

Bad Wolf flared up inside of Rose. Her eyes didn't even need to glow gold as she spun around and faced the theatrically dressed Dracula behind her. "Good evening." He greeted in an Hungarian accent.

Rose's eyebrows shot up. "'lo there, Dracula."

He smiled when she said his name. Rose took a step back but the man matched her and moved forward. "I have watched you many nights from afar."

"Yeah," Rose interrupted, "'cause tha's not creepy."

The Dracula continued on as if he hadn't heard her. "My passion knows no bounds! You are the reincarnation of my beloved, Mina." He moved towards her faster now. Rose backed up until she hit a wall. The Dracula leaned into her. "And I must have you."

Rose swung her fist and punched him across the face. Before he had time to recover, she kicked him in the stomach and ran down the alley back towards the street. Rose heard huffing and cursing from behind her and quickly glanced back.

"Marion!" Rose turned around and ran straight into Dean. He caught her around the waist and stepped back to stop them from falling. They turned and saw Dracula swish his cape. He stood tall, his chest puffed out as he glared down his nose at Dean.

"Son of a bitch." Dean breathed out as he took in the other man.

The Dracula's glare grew more intense. "You should not use such language in the presence of my bride."

Rose snorted. "Yeah, never gonna happen, mate."

Dean glanced at her, she seemed completely under control. He turned back to the Dracula. "You heard the lady." Dean let go of Rose and swung a punch at the vampire. It connected, but seemed to barely faze the Dracula. The vampire bared his fangs and hissed at Dean as he lunged for him. Rose stepped back as they grappled. There was a tearing sound and a medallion went flying to the ground.

"Marion, run!" Dean hollered and the Dracula pushed him up against the wall. Rose rolled her eyes. That was less likely then the marriage to Count Chocula.

"You have no choice in the matter, Mr. Harker." The Hungarian man with delusions of cannibalism said. "Mina is mine." He bared his teeth. Dean pushed with all his might to keep the vampires fangs away from his neck where they were quickly descending.

Rose pounced. She grabbed the vampires shoulder, her other hand scrambled and eventually locked on his ear. She yanked back and the man lost his grip on Dean. There was a wet, ripping sound and suddenly Rose was holding his ear. Rose let out a small shriek as she stared down at the appendage. When she looked back up, Dean was chasing after the Dracula. Not one to be left behind, Rose booked it after them.

She caught up to Dean just as he rounded the corner and saw the Dracula practically leap half way up a metal fence then pull himself over. Dean jumped up, but didn't even make it halfway. Rose watched with confused bemusement as Dracula sped away on a moped.

"Seriously?" Rose asked. "A moped?"

Dean glanced at her. His eyes were burning with questions, which was the exact moment Rose remembered she wasn't acting nearly scared enough. She lifted up her hand, still holding the ear and made a noise somewhere between a whimper and a chocked scream.

Dean seemed to buy it, if only for a moment. "Come on, we'll go to the bar and you can wash your hands." He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her down the alley, his other hand gently plucking the ear from her grasp. Dean glanced at her. She wasn't even shaking. "You did good back there."

Rose smiled at him. "Thanks, that means a lot comin' from Neil Young." Rose smiled cheekily at him.

Dean let out a low laugh. "When did you figure it out?"

Rose waved a hand, "Oh about…" She frowned and trailed off as something in the dark caught her eye. She moved away from Dean and picked up the medallion that was on the vampire's throat earlier. "Hey, look at this." She lifted it up and flipped it around to the back.

Dean stared at it as Rose read the inscription. "It belonged to the Dracula nut." Dean remembered. He had torn it off in the fight.

"Yeah, and 's a rental from a costume place." Rose looked up at Dean, he didn't look too surprised. "I really hope you know wha's goin' on around here."

Dean nodded and looked around the dark alleyway. "Yeah, I think I do." He gestured to the side entrance that led into the bar. "Come on, let's get inside."

Rose nodded and pulled the bar keys out of her jacket pocket. That was when Dean finally realized she was out of her barmaid outfit. Her hair was down in the usual honey coloured big curls and waves. She wore a black leather jacket and jeans with black boots. It certainly wasn't girly, nor was it what he had expected from her. It was practical, durable, and something distinctly hunter-like.

The door opened and the two entered the closed bar and restaurant. Rose turned on the lights and headed back behind the bar. The tap turned on and she vigorously washed her hands. Dean found a cloth to put the ear in before he, also, washed his hands with a generous amount of soap.

Dean glanced at her again. She wasn't freaking out — at all. He wasn't sure what to make of that. "Are you a hunter?"

Rose looked up at him as she dried her hands. "'m assuming you don't mean do I like to kill Bambi's mum?" Dean turned off the tap and took the washcloth from her to dry his own hands. He shook his head. "I dunno wha' you mean then." Rose picked up two scotch glasses and a bottle before making her way over to a booth.

Dean frowned. His hand went to his cell which he pulled out and quickly shot a text to Sammy about what happened. Sammy told him he'd be there soon, then Dean picked up the cloth with the ear inside of it and followed her to the booth. They sat down across from each other silently. Rose poured them both a glass of scotch. "How'd you know my badge was a fake?" No regular person off the street would know that. Dean refused to believe she wasn't a hunter. But why would she lie?

"I used to work with a company tha' dealt with fake ID's a lot." Rose shrugged like it was no big deal.

"What? Like Homeland Security?"

Rose laughed hard at that. She threw her head back and left Dean in the dark about what was so funny. When she finally calmed down she took a sip of her scotch and nodded, a smile still in place. "Somethin' like that, yeah."

Dean opened his mouth to ask another question but Rose wagged her fingers at him and shook her head. "Nuh-uh, my turn. Wha' was tha' thing?"

Dean considered the blonde before him for a moment. She had handled everything considerably well so far. Had attacked instead of run, kept an open mind in the search for a suspect, picked up clues in dark alleys. She may not have been a hunter, but Dean was certain she'd make one hell of one. "I wasn't sure at first, but the ear you got pretty much gives it away. It's a shapeshifter."

Rose considered that. She'd faced shapeshifting aliens before, but she had already established that this wasn't an alien. "Righ' and is this then, _normal_ behaviour for a shapeshifter?"

Dean scratched his head. "Yeah, not really. Though shifters in general tend to cause harm. We've come across a couple, and every time they've been killers."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Well of course they have. You're not gonna find them if they're law abidin' citizens are you?" Dean nodded his head in acknowledgement but didn't respond. He took a sip from his glass. "So wha' do we do? There like a place you take shifters? A special prison or somethin'?"

Dean shook his head. "No. To get rid of a shifter you need silver." Rose stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate on the next part of the instruction. Dean gestured. "Then we kill it."

Rose looked at him aghast. "What? You jus' kill him? No questions asked?"

Dean leaned forward. "He's killed people, Marion. We can't just let him walk about and continue to do that. We gotta gank him."

"But what if he was innocent. What if a shifter hadn't killed anyone?" The Doctor had always taught her to give second chances, to find an alternative route. Killing hadn't really been an option with him. Accidents happened and sometimes people couldn't be saved. Rose stuck by the Doctor's original premise though, you don't hurt those you can save.

"You said it yourself." Dean was calm. He wasn't budging on the topic. "If he hadn't killed anyone, we wouldn't be here." Dean saw the distraught on Rose's face. He sighed. "Look, shifters, werewolves, vampires. Take your pick. There are hundreds of monsters out there, but the one thing they all have in common is that they know about us. Hunters are everywhere. If a monster makes a wrong move, we'll find them. That's the way it goes. We hunt them, we kill them, and we save a lot of people along the way."

Rose sank back against the booth. She pouted at her scotch glass as she thought that over. It went against everything inside of her, but Dean had a point. If they knew, and they killed anyways, wasn't that like taking your second chance? Killing was wrong, needless killing was disgusting. Rose had to admit, she was in a completely different universe now. Apparently, this universe played by different rules. If she was going to stay there, if she was going to _help_ people, she'd have to learn them.

Rose took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. She looked right at Dean, staring straight into the new dangers she was allowing into her life. "How long have you been doin' this then? Killin' monsters, tha' is."

Dean shrugged. He hadn't looked up from his glass. "When we were younger our mother was killed by a demon. From that moment on, my dad started hunting them. He raised my brother, Sammy, and myself in the hunt. So I guess you could say our whole lives." Dean looked up at her then. She didn't have a look of sympathy on her face, more of understanding. "You lost someone?" The second the words left his mouth he wanted to punch himself. She'd said that she was a widow. Of course she lost someone.

Rose nodded. "Yeah, my dad died when I was a baby."

Dean nodded. He took another sip of scotch. "That's like Sammy, he never really got to meet our mom. Doesn't have any memories of her." Dean looked down at the table top again and missed it when Rose's eyes glowed gold. Rose bit her lip. Sam would meet their mom, almost the exact same way Rose had met her father. Time travel was a beautiful thing.

"Sammy?" Rose asked politely. She knew Sammy was the younger brother, the taller one.

Dean nodded. "Yeah, my partner. Really my younger brother… I'm Dean." She considered telling him her real name, but there was too much of a risk. The last thing Rose needed was these boys finding out there were two of her, they'd think _she_ was a shifter.

Rose leaned forward on the table and stared at Dean seriously. "You said demons, werewolves, vampires. Those are real?" Dean looked up and nodded. His eyes narrowed a bit at the look on Rose's face. "Wha' else is there?"

Dean frowned and shook his head. "No. Marion, you don't want to get messed up in this."

"Why not?" Rose tried really hard not to be offended. She'd saved planets, galaxies and universes, all on multiple occasions. She could do this too.

"Because — because we move from motel to motel. We eat fast food for a living, we're never in the same place twice and we're working all ours of the night and day. We impersonate important people, get chased by the authorities and on a number of occasions have been thrown in jail. That's why. You really want to do that?"

God. Rose wanted nothing more than to do that all day every day. She missed travelling with the Doctor. Hunting, as Dean called it, sounded pretty similar. Rose smiled broadly. "Is it wrong tha', yeah, I really want that." Dean stared at her astonished. "Look, I travel all the time. Wha' you said is my life in a nutshell anyways. I try to help people, tend to get in trouble. Ya know, cultural differences." Rose waved her hand nonchalantly. "Bu' besides tha', 'm always on the move. Never stay anywhere long. Only been here a week actually, got stuck for a bit. After this is taken care, 'm gonna move out and head to the next place tha' calls me. If I find one of these things again, I won't hesitate to try and stop it."

Dean glared at her. "You're gonna get yourself killed."

Rose smiled cheekily. "Then teach me."

He rolled his eyes and tried to not show how much her smile effected him. "I don't have time to train you to be a hunter, princess." He raised the scotch glass to his mouth and paused. "But if I don't do something you're still going to hunt them aren't you?" Rose smiled. Dean shook his head. "I should just let them get you."

Rose laughed. "Nah, wha' would all our subjects think, prince?" Dean shook his head again and took a long sip of scotch. He was caving, Rose could see it. She decided to back off though, too much pressure too fast would make him snap. And he wouldn't snap in her favour.

The door to the bar opened and Sam walked in quickly. He eyed the two at the booth and made his way over. "Hey. You guys alright?"

Dean nodded at his brother. "Yeah, I think so. And I think I know what's going on." He pushed the cloth over to Sam. Sam opened it up and made a face.

"We ripped it off of Dracula." Rose informed him.

Sam looked to her and quickly noted the clothes and the lack of hysteria. "Hunter?" Rose and Dean shook their heads. Sam nodded, not understanding at all but willing to go along with it. "So the ear?"

Dean leaned forward. "Touch it." Sam did. "A shifter. Except this one is all holding buckets of crazy." Dean gestured to Rose and nodded.

She pulled out the medallion they'd found in the alley. She handed it to Sam. "Found it in the alley after the fight. Dean tore it off. 's from a costume place."

Dean took another drink of scotch. "All three monsters — The dracula, wolf man, and the mummy — all the same critter. Which means we need to catch this freak before he "creature from the black lagoon's" somebody."

Rose shook her head. "I don't think he will."

Sam turned to her, curious. "Why not?"

"Well 's jus'…" She fidgeted with her fingers as she collected her thoughts. Both the boys had their eyes trained on her. This was her time to shine, she knew it. If Dean was going to teach her to hunt, he'd need a reason. Rose was going to give him one. "All the other murders were pretty basic, scenes from horror flicks, yeah? Well he didn't try to kill me in the alley. An' I think he's drawn us into his fantasy. He called me Mina, and Dean, Mr. Harker."

Sam's eyes widened a bit. Dean looked between the two, confused. "Who's that?"

"Mina and Jonathan Harker are from the movies and novels. Mina was his intended bride, Harker the fiancé. He's fixating on you," he told Rose, "wants you to be his bride."

Rose sighed and leaned her leaned her head on her hand. "Wish I could say it was the first time a crazy — anything — fixated on me."

Sam wasn't done though. "But to fixate on you, my guess is that the shifter has to have seen you before or been around you."

Dean's eyebrows shot up. "Ed Brewer." Sam nodded.

"What?" Rose frowned at the both of them. "Ed's harmless. Fancies me, sure, but he isn't a killer."

"Marion, he called you a goddess. You should have seen the look of worship on his face. The man isn't all there. Do you know where he lives?"

Rose shook her head. It wasn't Ed, she knew that. "No, bu' he works at the old theatre." Rose crossed her arms. "It isn't him."

Sam and Dean exchanged a few words, and then Sam was heading out to find Ed. Rose stared stonily at the door for a moment. She knew it wasn't Ed. Her increased powers from Bad Wolf mixed with this universe's Time Vortex told her that. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach. She sighed. If it wasn't him, Sam would just leave him alone…right? Rose asked Dean. He gave her a look, one Rose couldn't really decipher, then told her none too kindly that Sam wouldn't hurt her boyfriend.

"You really want to do this?" Rose looked up at Dean, shocked. She'd been completely lost in her thoughts. She nodded quickly. Dean huffed. "Most people get dragged into this life, Marion. They don't chose it. Once you're in, it's almost impossible to get out. Hunter's don't have happy endings."

Rose sighed. She could see that. Most companions didn't have happy endings. But it was worth it, to travel the stars and see the universe. She was immortal now, all her loved ones long dead, in a completely different universe. And Rose wouldn't have it any other way. She'd go through all the hardship of her long life, over and over again, if that's what the price was to have travelled with the Doctor. "I could help so many people Dean, you have no idea."

Dean stared at her like she was some complicated puzzle, and in lots of ways she was. "What makes helping people your responsibility?"

"What makes it yours?" She countered. After a moment of silence, Rose got up from the booth and locked the door to the bar.

Dean stared at the counter top. "Last few years, I started thinking that way. That it was all my responsibility, you know? And, uh, it started sort of weighing on me. Of course, that was before…" Dean shifted in his seat uncomfortable. Rose walked back over and stood by the table. "A little while ago, I had this — it's called a near-Death experience. Very near." Still staring at the countertop, Dean didn't see Rose's eyes glow gold again. He also didn't see them fill with horror, then tears. Rose slipped into the booth beside Dean, drawing back the rage and anger inside of her. They'd _tortured_ him.

Dean continued, oblivious to Rose's inner turmoil. "And, uh...when I came to… Things were different. My life's been different. I realize that I help people. It's not just a responsibility. And I don't just help them. I save them. I guess it's — it's awesome. It's kind of like a gift… Like a mission. Kind of like a… a mission from god."

Rose smiled. She wanted to kiss him. That thought alone almost gave her pause. Dean was the first man she'd wanted to kiss since she met the Doctor. Well, she didn't count Jack. But Rose really did want to kiss him, and she knew he needed the comfort, knew he wanted to kiss her. She bit her lip, staring at Deans, it was just one kiss.

"So does tha' make you my guardian angel?" She smiled, her tongue poking out from between her teeth. Dean's eyes fixated on the tongue, watching it disappear between the most beautiful lips he'd ever seen.

"Man, I hope not." He whispered.

Rose leaned forward as her eyes fluttered shut. Their lips met in a soft, tender kiss that had Rose melting in his arms. He pulled her closer, his hand sneaking between her jacket and shirt to rest at the curve of her waist. Rose moaned at the feel of his warm hands holding her close. She felt Dean's lips curl up into a smile as he continued to kiss her. Rose pulled back a bit and laughed, she smacked his shoulder, wanting to wipe that smug look off of his face. Dean chuckled and kissed her bottom lip, he pulled her closer again and they continued to laugh and kiss. It was sweet and fun, and better then Rose had hoped for.

The rest of the bar lights flickered on and Rose and Dean pulled apart.

Lucy stood by the bar, jaw dropped. "Holy crap. Oh, my god. Marion. Guys, I'm —I'm sorry. I thought you guys were going out."

Rose flushed and shook her head. "Lucy, 's fine. Really."

Lucy held up a bottle. "I just — I came to borrow a bottle. I kind of got something going back at my… Anyway, uh, you guys look really busy, so I'm just gonna get out of your hair." Lucy made to leave.

Rose laughed. "Seriously, Lucy, 's been a crazy night. Stay for a drink."

Dean looked at Rose then back at Lucy. The last thing he wanted was for Lucy to stay. Rose's kisses were like M&M's. He could sit there for the rest of his life and just — he turned to Lucy. "Yeah. Stay for a drink." What the hell had gotten into him? _Sit there for the rest of his life?_ This town was clearly screwing with his head. Rose smiled at him and he forced a smile back.

* * *

"Oh, that sounds awful." Lucy gushed. "Marion, honey, are you okay?"

Rose shrugged. "Yeah, 'm fine. Just wish I got more then a right hook an' a kick at him." Dean smiled at that, loving the big fight in the little packaging before him.

With his arm wrapped around her shoulder, Dean played with the end of one of her curls. He seemed to realize what he was doing and quickly disentangled himself from her. Rose shot him an inquiring look but was quickly distracted by something on the table. She picked up the bottle of alcohol that Lucy had shared with them.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Dean finally responded to Rose's earlier statement. Lucy pulled out a napkin and blotted her lipstick.

Rose set the bottle down on the table top, hard. She looked sharply at Lucy. "Wha' did you do?"

Dean frowned between the two of them. Lucy leaned forward and smiled at Rose in a way Dean quickly identified as altogether too creepy for his tastes. "God, you really are fantastic aren't you?" Rose flinched at Lucy's words, though Dean couldn't see why. "So much smarter than any of these buffoons give you credit for. Perfection."

Rose blinked blearily and swayed as she climbed out of the booth. Dean stumbled out behind her. The room swam around them as the drugs that Lucy had put in the alcohol finally kicked in.

"It's you, isn't it?" Dean growled. He swung a punch at one of the three Lucy's he saw, but missed entirely. The force propelled him towards the table and his hand landed on the bottle they'd been drinking from. He smashed the end of it against the edge of the table.

"Lucy please." Rose pleaded. "You don't want ta do this. Please jus'…" Rose trailed off as she stumbled.

Dean shouldered Rose out of the way and brandished the broken bottle. "Too late. I'll skin you myself." The bottle fell from his limp grasp and Dean collapsed to the ground.

"Dean!" Rose cried. She slumped down beside the hunter and checked his pulse. Her fingers fumbled along his neck. Eventually she gave up and simply checked through the Time Vortex. She sighed, her body sagging against Deans. He was alive. Her body felt like it was being weighed down with sandbags, but she forced herself to look to Lucy anyways. "Lucy, stop this. 's not gonna end well… for…" Rose slumped forward and she collapsed on top of Dean.

* * *

Rose gasped awake. She sat up quickly as her eyes glanced around the room. It was an old, medieval looking castle. Rose rubbed her hands along the modern material of the blankets beneath her. "Medieval lookin', but no' actually." She mumbled to herself. Rose crawled off the bed and headed to the door. She paused when she saw the long satin white dress hanging near the bed. She snorted at it and headed out the door.

Whatever drugs Lucy had given her had worked its way through her system. If she had been a regular human, she was sure she'd have been out for much longer. That gave her a particular advantage. Maybe she could find Dean somewhere around here and they could escape.

The hallway was stone or — Rose reached out a hand. Fake. The entire place was one giant fun house. Rose tilted her head to the side a bit. Prop house would be more accurate. She continued down the hall until she heard voices coming from behind a door. She paused and leaned her ear against the wood.

"_You do realize what happens. At the end of every monster movie?_" Dean was saying.

"_Ah. But this movie is mine_." The Hungarian accent quickly identified the other speaker as the Dracula — Lucy. "_And in it, the monster wins. The monster gets the girl. And the hero, he's…electrocuted._" Rose's eyes widened. Wait — what? "_And tonight, Jonathan Harker. You will be my hero_." Rose was just taking a few steps back to help her get the momentum to kick the door down when suddenly — the door bell rang. Rose raced back to the door and leaned her ear close again. She heard the tail end of Dracula excusing himself and his footsteps receding.

Rose counted to five then threw the door open and ran into the room. It was a science lab, right out of Frankenstein. There were test tubs and stone walls and Dean strapped to a propped up metal slab. Rose raced towards him, hand diving into her pocket for her sonic screwdriver.

"Marion?"

Rose paused when she noticed his appearance. There was a moment of stunned silence before she burst into laughter. He was dressed in a fully decked out Oktoberfest costume for men. "Oh, oh tha' is just rich." She wiped a tear away. "Can I get a picture?"

Dean glared at her. "Did you bring anything to get me out?"

Rose nodded but didn't move. She eyed him. "You know, it really is becoming. Love the knee highs." His glare grew darker. Rose rolled her eyes. "Fine." She pulled out her sonic screwdriver and unlocked the first metal strap across his shoulders.

Dean frowned at the warbling noise that emanated from the black cylindrical device. A light at the end lit up bright blue. "What is that?"

Rose paused and gave him a confused look. "Did you want to get out or have a science lesson." Another glare later and Rose almost had Dean out. "We should hurry, I doubt he'll go long before checkin' in on me."

Dean nodded and stumbled off of the metal slab as Rose finished unlocking his confines. A loud crash echoed from the direction Rose had entered. "I think he figured out you're missing." Dean received the glare that time.

They ran towards a door but froze when the entrance Rose had used slammed open. The wood splintered and fake stone wall behind it dented. Dracula stormed in, his eyes dark and furious. "Mina!" He thundered then pointed at Dean when he saw the man with his hand on Rose's wrist. "Unhand my bride!"

Rose scowled at him. "Bride? You actually think I'd marry you?" Before Dean could stop her, her feet were carrying her across the room towards the shapeshifter. "Ya murdered people! There are families out there mourning their children because of you. You did that. You brought pain to this world, an' 'm not gonna marry you."

Dracula's face became solemn. "This is for your own good, my love." He moved quickly and threw Rose to the side. She slammed against a large metal contraption and collapsed to the ground.

"Marion!" Dean moved forward but the Dracula stood in his way.

"Now it is time to get rid of you for good, Mr. Harker." Dracula raised his hand theatrically and swung his cape with a flourish. Dean raised his fists and tensed his body, prepared for a fight. Shifters were stronger than humans. Dean knew he stood little chance for long. He had no silver on him, and for all he knew Marion was dead across the room.

_BANG!_

Dean's head whipped around to see Sam standing at the base of the stairwell, gun raised. Dracula collapsed to the ground. The bullet had gone straight into his heart. The fake vampire gasped and blinked in a slightly confused, shocked manner. He tried to say something, but was stopped as he coughed up blood instead. A moment later, Dracula was dead.

Dean hesitated for only a second before he raced over to Rose's prone body. She was lying on her stomach, facing the wall. Dean was about to roll her over and check for a pulse when she gasped away. She sat up quickly, back still to the room and the Winchesters.

"Marion?"

Rose shook her head and blinked the golden hue of the vortex from her eyes as it slowly dragged the life back into her momentarily dead body. When she felt the vortex finally recede from her mind she turned around. Dean was staring at her, eyes wide and afraid. Rose's brows drew together. "Is he dead?" Dean looked over his shoulder and Rose followed his gaze. The shifter lied motionless on the ground, chest red where blood had pooled from the single bullet wound. She hadn't wanted to kill him at first, but being murdered tended to sway your opinion.

Rose let out a breath. A tiny piece of fear crept into her heart as her eyes flickered between the worried looks of the Winchester brothers. If Sam or Dean had seen the gold from of the vortex when she had been brought back to life, she was done for. Neither of them would believe she was anything but a monster. Rose briefly considered if she should even be associating with them, considering how dangerous it would be if they ever found out she wasn't human. No — she needed help, especially if she planned on fighting monsters herself.

"Now what?" She asked.

Dean stood and held out his hand. Rose took it and he pulled her up. "Now we get out of here before the cops respond to any calls about a gunshot." Sam nodded at them and the three of them headed up out of the basement, and to Rose and Dean's surprise, out the main floor of a suburban home. Dean's car, the Impala, was sitting across the street and the they quickly filed in.

It wasn't until Dean went to open the door that he realized he was still holding Rose's hand. He dropped it like it had scorched him and ducked into the car. Rose gave him another look and slid into the back seat. Sam gunned the engine and the Impala sped out of the sleeping neighbourhood.

Sam drove them to the motel that they were staying at. The boys would need to pick up their things and head out as fast as possible. Sam glanced at Rose and Dean as they fidgeted around each other in front of the car like a couple of teenagers. Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head. He'd seen his brother holding Rose's hand — holding it like a life line. He rolled his eyes and left them in the parking lot.

Rose glanced over at the door to the motel room as it closed behind Sam. Dean scuffed his boots on the pavement for a minute before he roused up the courage to look at Rose. "Marion, I still don't think it's a good idea."

Rose shrugged. "Tha's okay Dean. If 's not a good idea, you won't be there to see it. I can handle myself. Been doin' it for years, I'll manage on my own."

Rose turned and began to head out of the parking lot. She couldn't decide if she was happy or sad. Happy that the Winchesters hadn't found her out, sad that she wasn't going to travel with them. Not sad that she wasn't going to get to kiss Dean again — nope. She was perfectly — Dean grabbed her arm and spun her around. Rose's breath caught in her throat as she stared into his bright green eyes.

Dean swallowed. "I understand, okay?" Rose frowned in confusion. "I understand that it's your responsibility. I don't know how it happened, and I won't ask. But I'm not going to let you just run off and make a mess. Some serious shit is going on right now and I don't need to be worrying about you."

Rose nodded. Right, she got it. No hunting. Not like he could really stop her though. She tried to shake off his grip but he tightened his hold and growled in frustration. "No, Marion, you don't understand." He sighed and ran his other hand through his short cropped hair. "I'm going to worry about you anyways. So you might as well stick around so I don't have to run across the country to save your tight ass."

Rose preened a bit and smiled. "You mean?" Dean nodded. Rose jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck, squealing as she hugged him. Dean laughed and patted her back. Rose pulled back a bit to thank him. Dean's eyes dragged down to her full, gorgeous lips and he quickly disentangled themselves from one another.

"Yeah, about that." He waved a hand between them. "We probably shouldn't…"

"Right."

"Things'll just get…"

"Complicated."

"Yeah."

"Totally understand."

The two stood and stared at each other for one long heated minute. Rose inwardly groaned, feeling like this was going to be reminiscent of her adventures with the Doctor. All sexual tension and no release. Meanwhile, Dean was inwardly cursing himself. He'd said to Sam earlier he wanted to bang the chick, and now the chick was going to be with them. It didn't help that Dean obviously couldn't control himself around her. Sam was going to die from the hilarity of it.

"So," Rose finally said, crashing into Dean's mind the way she had been almost every minute since they met. "once you and Sam are packed we'll grab my bag from my apartment and head out, yeah? We wanted to beat the enforcements didn't we?"

Dean nodded. After a second of scrambling to pick his concentration up from the ground, he practically fled into the motel.

Rose crossed her arms and stared at the door, a small smile on her face. She couldn't help but feel excited. Travelling again, helping people, and getting into a whole lot of trouble. The Doctor would be proud.

* * *

Comments?


	3. Yellow Fever (Part One)

Yellow Fever

They were in the middle of a couple of abandoned farmer fields. The Impala doors were wide open with Zepplin blasting from the stereo. Sam was sitting on a half broken fence while he clipped away at the fake FBI badge he was making for Rose. Sam could still hardly believe she had gone with them. He definitely couldn't believe that Dean had actually wanted that.

At first Sam had thought he was kidding. Then he thought Dean had hit his head. Finally he came to the realization that his older brother wanted a sex buddy with him 24/7. Though it had never happened before, Sam didn't put it past Dean to consider it. The last theory, oddly enough, had resulted in an enraged glare from his brother.

Rose honestly wanted to learn to be a hunter, and Dean honestly wanted to teach her. He glanced over at the two of them across the narrow field. Dean had snatched a decrepit scarecrow and set it up along the further fence line along with some old cans. He'd brought Rose to a respectable distance away and pulled out a gun. He was showing her how to load it and use the safety.

Sam finished putting together the badge, naming Rose as a one "Jane Smith", upon her own insistence. Dean had commented it was too plain and ordinary. Rose had countered with saying that that was exactly why it was so perfect. Sam slid the newly minted badge into his pocket and headed out to the other side of the field.

As he got closer he could hear Dean lecturing Rose about gun safety, sounding remarkably like their father. Rose was doing her own — incredibly accurate — portrayal of a teenage Dean.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Dean, I've held a gun before."

Dean nodded and tried to not get riled at the attitude in her tone. "Yes, but you also said you don't like guns."

"That doesn't mean I don't know how to use one!" Dean opened his mouth to continue his lecture but Rose cut him off with an angry groan. "Jus' hand me the bloody gun, Dean!"

Dean glared at her. "And if I don't, princess?"

Her eyes narrowed and her mouth pinched into a straight line. She gestured to the duffle between them that held an assortment of guns. "Or I'll shove my hand in the bag and shoot with whatever comes out, yeah?"

"Marion." Dean's voice was low as he clearly tried to keep his cool. "This isn't a joke. You need to know how to shoot, and in order to do that you first need to know…"

Dean was cut off as Rose suddenly pulled a 444 Marlin revolver from the bag. Both Sam and Dean jumped to stop her from using such a powerful weapon. Rose turned and shot the weapon, she didn't even flinch, nor did she fall back in an unprepared heap. Dean and Sam whipped around to see the head of the scarecrow had disappeared.

Sam laughed. Rose set the safety back on, twirled the gun around her finger and shoved the gun into Dean's limp hands. "You were sayin'?" She asked, all innocence.

Dean closed his mouth finally and turned his head back to the short blonde in front of him. "Who did you say you worked for?"

Rose smiled one of the most evil smiles Dean had ever seen. Which made it all the more wrong that he absolutely loved it. "I didn't." Rose said back. She looked over her shoulder at Sam and winked.

Sam laughed again. He had to admit it, he liked her. She had fire, and passion and was apparently really great with a gun. Dean had been right, Rose would make a great hunter. It was a just a shame the Apocalypse was coming. That had been something neither of the brothers had decided to discuss with the girl yet. They'd take her out on a few hunts, ease her into their world and if she didn't run away, then they'd tell her about Lucifer and the angels.

Sam cocked his head to the side. "How are you with hand to hand?" He asked curiously.

Rose turned to him and shrugged. "'m trained. But I wouldn't say I could beat either of you in a fight. Guns are easy, hand to hand is definitely something I could work on though." Behind her, Dean had begun gathering up the supplies he'd been showing her. Holy water, salt, iron, the works.

Sam nodded. "Well that'll have to wait. I just finished this." He pulled out the badge and tossed it to her. Rose caught it and flipped it open. She smiled. "And we just got a call, Maumee."

Rose looked up from her new fake ID and frowned. "Am I supposed to know what tha' means?"

Dean rolled his eyes and hefted the duffle over his shoulder. "Friggin' Brits."

Sam and Dean headed back towards the Impala. Rose stood where she was for a second, admiring her new badge, until that snide remark finally hit her. "Oi!" She shouted and ran after them.

* * *

Rose didn't think she'd ever be able to unsee that autopsy. Or unsmell it for that matter. It had been informative though, she had to admit. Two people had died from heart attacks in Maumee, and this one was just one town over. But the autopsy showed no signs of a heart attack, the guy was a marathon runner. The heart had simply given out for no reason.

Rose had noticed Dean's interest in the deep gashes along the victim, Frank O'Brien's arms. The coroner had said they were simply scratches from falling, but they seemed too deep. She'd also just caught the tan from the missing wedding ring just before Dean mentioned it. Rose was impressed. Dean knew his job and how to do it, he didn't miss anything. That thought made Rose uneasy, how long would it take for him to realize she wasn't who or what she said she was?

Rose shuddered as her mind rudely reminded her of the blood splattering across Sam's face and the heart in Dean's hand during the autopsy. She touched her uneasy stomach as she willed herself not to be sick.

They'd headed straight to the Sheriff's station from the coroners. Apparently the Sheriff was busy though, and the three were forced to wait outside for him. Rose leaned on one hip as she eyed the young deputy at the front desk. She was impatient and time was wasting. Rose glanced over at the two brothers beside her. She was following their lead, she didn't want to step on any toes.

Ten minutes went past.

Rose spared the brothers one more glance before sauntering over to the front desk. "Hi…" Rose glanced at his name tag, "Deputy Linus." Rose raised her eyebrows, falsely impressed. "Wow, a Deputy. Tha's exciting."

Deputy Linus choked and swallowed. He looked like an ant and Rose the shoe. Behind her, Sam and Dean watched on with rapt attention. Dean tightened his grip on the seats armrests as he told himself not to deck the kid she was smiling to like that.

Deputy Linus finally found his voice. "Ye-yeah, sorry about the wait again."

Rose nodded and played with her hoop earring. Dean had had a fit when he saw them. He claimed it wasn't the 1970's and Rose easily responded, "yeah, but we should definitely visit," which had received and odd look from Dean. Rose was sure her hoops didn't match her 'regulation' pantsuit, but she didn't care. The hoops were from some of her first travels with the Doctor, it felt right. He was right there with her helping her along.

"Righ'," Rose answered the Deputy with a smile and flutter of her eyes. She leaned forward on the desk and silently thanked herself for not buttoning her white blouse up all the way. She gave the Deputy a moment to bring himself together then continued. "Sorry, bit forgetful me. Why was it tha' he couldn't see us, again?"

Deputy Linus swallowed and dragged his eyes up to Rose's. "He's asked not to be disturbed. You'll have to wait 'til he's available."

Rose nodded as she took the young man's hands and played with them softly. His jaw slackened. "Yeah, suppose you're right. But I was thinkin', yeah? Maybe you could make a tiny exception." Rose let out a breathy laugh. "I know, daft me. But 's just you _are_ the Deputy." Rose smiled and leaned across the desk to tap his badge that clearly labeled him as such. "An' if anyone can help a girl out, 'm sure it'd be you." Rose deliberately lowered her voice at the end. Deputy Linus' eyes bugged out and he fumbled for the phone beside him.

Rose smiled charmingly at him as he quickly spoke with the Sheriff, informing him that there were people here to see him. Rose heard the grumble on the other line and the loud stomps to the door of the office to the left. Rose shifted a bit but didn't drop her smile as the door to the Sheriff's office swung open.

A tall gruff looking man glared out at the room. "Linus I said…" His voice trailed off as his eyes landed on Rose.

Rose walked around the desk so the Sheriff could see all of her. "Sorry 'bout the nuisance Sheriff. 'm Jane Smith, FBI." She held up her badge. The Sheriff shook his head, trying to gain some focus. "My partners an' I were wonderin' if we could talk to you for a second?"

The Sheriff glanced behind her and finally noticed the amused looking Sam and glowering Dean. He nodded. "Sure, sorry about the wait." He held the door open and nodded for them to enter. "Come on in." Rose glanced over her shoulder at the boys and winked. Sam laughed silently as he stood with his brother and followed her into the Sheriff's office.

The Sheriff stopped them when they reached the door and gestured to a floor mat. "Shoe's off." He ordered, back to his gruffness. Rose didn't even blink at the instruction and toes off her shoes. She followed the Sheriff and shook his hand. "Al Britton." He introduced. Then quickly shook Sam and Dean's hands as they entered the office as well.

Rose took a seat in front of the man's desk as he quickly slathered his hands in hand sanitizer. Rose raised her eyebrows and glanced at Sam, who had taken the vacant seat beside her. He was sharing a look with Dean that left Rose feeling like she was missing something.

"Okay." Sheriff Britton said as he sat down behind his desk. "So, what can I do for you sweetie?"

Rose smiled past the annoyance at the term of endearment. "We've been called in to check up on the death of Frank O'Brien. As we heard it, some of your men found him, yeah?"

Sheriff Britton narrowed his eyes and tapped the desk nonchalant. "They did. Me and Frank, we were friends. Hell, we were gamecocks." Behind Rose, Dean snickered. She turned and both she and the Sheriff glared at Dean. At least the man had the decency to look abashed, Rose thought.

"That's our softball team's name." The Sheriff clarified. "They're majestic animals. I knew Frank since high school. To be honest, I just this morning got up the strength to go see him. Frank was...He was a good man."

"Yeah." Dean put in. "Big heart." Rose made a face at the mental image that brought up. She glared over her shoulder at Dean.

Sam ignored the both of them. "Before he died, did you notice Frank acting strange? Maybe scared of something?"

"Oh hell, yeah. Real jumpy."

"You know what scared him?" Sam asked.

The Sheriff thought for a moment but eventually shook his head. "No. Wouldn't answer his phone. Finally, I sent some of my boys over to check on him, and well, you know the rest." The man started and turned quickly to the hand sanitizer on his desk. He slathered his hands in it once again and rubbed as much of the liquid into his skin as he could.

Rose looked to Sam and Dean as they all shared a very confused glance. Rose had seen germ freaks before, but this was taking that idea to a whole new level. She glanced around the room quickly and noticed the trophies along the back wall for sports. Generally, when people obsessed over germs, they stayed away from sports — especially contact sports. The room was tidy, but not enough to illustrate the Sheriff's need for cleanliness. This was clearly a new development.

Rose stood up with Sam and Dean. "Thank you so much for your time Sheriff. We know how busy you are."

The Sheriff smiled charmingly at Rose and inclined his head. "Nothin' to it at all, my dear. Come 'round again any time." Rose smiled and followed the brothers out of the station and back onto the street.

Dean looked around the street as they walked, shaking his head. "No way that was a heart attack."

Sam nodded his head. "Definitely no way. Three victims, all with those same red scratches. All went from jittery to terrified to dead within 48 hours."

Rose crossed her arms against the breeze and hurried her pace to keep up with the boys. "Yeah, but wha' can do tha'? Scare someone to death?"

Dean snorted. "What can't? Ghosts, vampires, chupacabra? It could be a

hundred things."

Rose's eyes widened and she leaned forward a bit to catch Dean's eye. "Chupacabra?" She asked, and he didn't miss the hint of wonder and excitement in her voice. "Really?"

Dean nodded. "Oh yeah."

Sam rolled his eyes at the two. "So, we make a list and start crossing things off." He suggested of the predicament.

Dean agreed and asked, "Alright, who's the last person to see Frank O'Brien alive?"

Sam glanced over at Rose as he thought, she shrugged. "Uh, his neighbour, Mark Hutchins." Rose looked to Dean to see if he agreed with Sam, but the elder Winchester seemed otherwise preoccupied.

"Hang on, hang on." He raised his hand and the three of them came to a stop on the sidewalk. Rose glanced around for any threat, but didn't see anything in the immediate vicinity.

"I don't see anythin'," Rose said, "wha' is it, Dean?"

Dean turned around to face the two. He had this odd look on his face. If Rose didn't know any better, she'd say it was something akin to childlike fear. "I don't like the looks of those teenagers down there." Rose and Sam both leaned around him to look at the teenagers. They were standing around talking and playing with their skateboards.

"Let's walk this way." Dean suggested, then promptly looked both ways and speed walked across the street.

"Did that really just happen?" Sam asked Rose.

Rose frowned at Dean. She hadn't known him for long, but she already knew enough to know that reaction was not within his character. Rose silently made a note to keep an eye on Dean. Then the two of them quickly made it across the street after Dean and headed the long way around for the Impala.

* * *

The neighbour of Frank O'Brien was clearly a pet person. Not a cat person — no, a pet person. With reptiles — with _snakes_. Rose wasn't sure how she felt about that. She'd faced giant talking snakes, and spiders the size of houses, but there was something about normal earth snakes. Maybe it was a leftover feeling of self preservation from when she was a human. Rose didn't really know, but the idea of so many reptiles surrounding her was incredibly unnerving. Dean clearly felt the same.

He was stiff as a board beside her as his eyes darted around the room like a caged animal. Rose desperately wanted to reach over and take his hand, but they were supposed to be professionals. She turned back to Mark Hutchins as the man scanned over their ID's. He had a rather large snake wrapped around himself as he lounged in his seat across from the three fake FBI agents.

Mark nodded. "Tyler and Perry. Just like Aerosmith." He smiled abashedly at Rose. "The Smith throws it off." Rose grinned and shrugged. Dean turned in his seat as he surveyed the rest of the room and its reptilian inhabitants.

A flicker of alarm crossed Sam's face. He cleared his throat and smiled tightly. "Yeah, small world. So, the last time you saw Frank O'Brien?" Dean's eyes caught the sight of a huge lizard and he quickly spun around. Rose grabbed his wrist. The man almost jumped out of his skin and Rose quickly loosened her grip. Dean looked at her with wide eyes, she gave him a stern look that quickly melted into a warmer one. Dean let out a breath and his shoulders slumped a bit, but the dodgy way his eyes scanned the room continued.

"Monday," Mark was saying to Sam, "he was watching me from his window. I waved at him, but he just closed the curtains."

Rose gave Mark a curious look. "Did you talk to him? Did he seem scared?" Sam cast a look in Rose's direction, pleasantly surprised by their similar train of thought.

Mark nodded. "Oh, totally. He was freaking out."

Dean, who looked as though he too were freaking out, cleared his throat. "Do you know, uh..do you know what scared him?"

"Well, yeah," Mark said like it was obvious, "witches."

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Witches?" He and Dean shared a look over Rose's short head. "Like…?" Rose could barely contain her excitement. _Witches_. No — don't get your hopes up, she told herself.

"Well, 'Wizard of Oz' was on tv the other night, right? And he said that green bitch was totally out to get him."

Rose laughed shortly. She saw the seriousness on Mark's face and her jaw slackened. "Wha'? Seriously?" Mark nodded, eyebrows raised.

"Anything else scare him?" Sam asked.

Mark shrugged. "Everything else scared him. Al-Qaeda, ferrets, artificial sweetener. Those pez dispensers with their dead little eyes." Rose raised her eyebrows. "Lots of stuff."

Sam nodded. "So, tell me. What was Frank like?"

Mark frowned and hesitated. "I mean, he's dead, you know? I-I don't want to hammer him but, he got better."

Rose looked between Sam and Mark. Sam seemed just as confused. "Wha' do you mean?" She asked Mark.

"Well, in high school he was," Mark hesitated again, "he was a dick." Rose and Sam glanced at each other, Dean was otherwise preoccupied looking at the aquariums around the room again. The two turned back to Mark. "Like a bully." The man clarified. "I mean, he probably taped half the town's butt cheeks together."

Dean snickered. Rose elbowed him in the gut and he gasped in pain. He glared at Rose then turned to the frowning Mark. "So he pissed a lot of people off. You think anyone would have wanted to get revenge?"

"Well, I don't…" Mark paused, clearly confused. "Frank had a heart attack, right?"

Sam decided not to directly answer that. "Just answer the question, sir."

Clearly becoming a bit more concerned for the situation he was in, Mark took a moment. Finally he said, "No, I don't think so. Like I said, he got better. And after what happened to his wife…" Mark trailed off.

"His wife?" Dean asked, remembering the tan line on the dead man's ring finger. "So he was married."

Mark nodded as he absentmindedly petted his snake. "She died about 20 years ago. Frank was really broken up about it." Dean stared as the man stroked his pet. Mark noticed and smiled good natured at the petrified FBI agent. "Don't be scared of Donny. He's a sweetheart. It's Marie you got to look out for." He nodded toward the couch the three agents were sitting on. "She smells fear."

Rose and Dean turned at the same time and saw the albino snake creep over the lip of the couch and head down towards them. Rose froze and barely even registered Dean's fearful gasp. The snake reached the seat of the couch and paused. It turned and surveyed Dean and then looked to Rose. It's reptilian eyes made contact with hers and without hesitation it slithered across Dean's lap, quickly moving away from the confused blonde.

Sam barely took notice of the occurrence until he saw the confused look on Mark's face. He stared after the albino reptile as it made its getaway across the floor. What was he missing here that Mark, the snake and Rose all clearly saw?

* * *

Rose stood casually in front of the doorway to Frank's apartment as Sam leaned over the handle. A few clicks later and Sam had the door opened. The two slid into the room quietly and looked over their silent surroundings.

"So wha' is it exactly tha' we're lookin' for?" Rose asked Sam. She crossed her arms over her chest and stepped deeper into the open apartment. There was a sunken in living room and a wall at the back that separated the space from the kitchen. To the left were two doors, presumably the bedroom and the bathroom. The colours were natural, browns and greens mainly. The apartment was clearly devoid of any female living there. It was a bachelor's pad through and through.

"Any number of monsters could have killed Frank, we've got to narrow down what it wasn't, and more importantly what it is." Sam pulled out a square mechanical device. Little light bulbs sat at the top and the face looked like it was used to measure something. Sam handed it to her. "This is an EMF reader. It will tell us if there's been any ghost activity in an area."

Rose nodded as she took the device. She flipped it on. It was pretty rudimentary. Rose had handled pieces of scientific inquiry much more advanced in her time, the TARDIS being at the top of that long list. Because of this previous knowledge, it was easy for her to work the machine. She moved around the room and held the EMF reader out near objects.

Rose frowned. "Nothin's happenin'." She told him.

Sam glanced at the reader over her shoulder. "Well it's on. I'd check the whole apartment just in case." He pulled out his own EMF reader and the two of them slowly made their way through the residence. Sam glanced at Rose nervously. "So that snake."

Rose's eyes widened and she shivered visibly. "Tha' thing was massive."

Sam smiled, half amused at the confession. "It didn't seem very afraid of you."

Rose cocked her head to the side and pretended to look contemplative. "Really?" She shrugged. "Didn' notice."

Sam narrowed his eyes at her as she turned her back to him. She had noticed. He'd seen her notice. Which meant something was definitely up. They continued through the apartment as Sam silently catalogued all the monsters he knew about that could be sensed by animals.

"'m not gettin' anything, Sam."

Sam shook his head and tried to stay focused. "That's okay, it's probably not a ghost. We should check out hex bags, and sulphur." He took the EMF reader from Rose and stuffed it back in the duffle with his own. "Hex bags are usually put together by a witch, and sulphur is residue left over from demons."

Rose nodded. "Righ'. I'll check for sulphur then."

They headed into the bedroom first and Rose checked the windows and above the dressers for sulphur. Sam looked through all the usual places hex bags were kept by witches. Under the bed, behind shelves, under the sink, in books. When Rose was done checking the room she moved to help same lift the mattress to see under it.

"So why'd you wanna come?" He asked her randomly.

Rose looked up at Sam from the other side of the bed. "I thought you and Dean decided that I should learn this stuff before I learn research? Got to know wha' 'm looking for, right?"

Sam shook his head. "That's not what I meant. I meant, why did you choose to go out and hunt demons and monsters? People don't choose this life."

Rose frowned and followed Sam out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where they continued their search. "You chose it."

Sam paused by the sink. He looked long side at her as she examined the windows again. "I was raised into this life. I had no choice."

Rose frowned. "Everyone's got a choice Sam." She turned to him. "If you wanted to, you could walk away. You'd hate yourself, but you could do it. Eventually it would get to you, but you could do it. Every day you'd think of those who died because you weren't there to save them, but you could do it." Rose paused as her gaze dropped to the floor. "Sometimes I think life is too long. We live to regret the choices we make, even if they're the right ones."

Sam's mind raced as he watched the suddenly ancient woman before him. She seemed kind enough, but there was something… Something distinctly off about her. It shined like a star in the dead of space. There was something wrong with her.

"Dean'll be waiting for us." Sam finally said. Rose looked up at him, eyes wide. She had completely forgotten he was there. Rose frowned again.

"'bout Dean… Sam, I think there's something wrong with him." Sam raised his eyebrows. He'd been thinking the same thing, but more focused on the blonde before him. "'s just… he's been acting really scared. All the time, 'bout everythin'. Did ya notice?"

Sam had noticed, but hadn't thought all to much into it. Dean could get weird every once in a while, and what with these angels coming to him in his dreams and not remembering hell. Sam assumed it was just a side effect from all that stress. "You think it's something to worry about?"

Rose was visibly surprised. "You _don't_?" She leaned her hip against the kitchen island and crossed her arms. "I haven't known you guys for tha' long, I know tha'. But you guys hunt _demons_. Why is Dean scared of a couple boys on the street? Why would he be scared of anythin'?" She paused and watched the conflict cross Sam's features. "What is it here that 'm missin'?"

Sam's conflict set into a frown. "If you have any questions about Dean, you'll have to ask _him_."

"Sam." Rose began to apologize, she'd pushed him too far, she should have realized that. Sam shook his head though, he picked up his duffle and led the way back out of the apartment. Silently berating herself, Rose followed him.

They saw the Impala when they exited the apartment complex and both quickly made their way over to the car. Sam tossed the duffle into the backseat, which Rose quickly followed. She smiled at Dean who nodded back as he scratched his left arm. Rose narrowed her eyes at the action, thinking to the marks across the victims own arms.

Sam climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door behind him. "Hey. Any luck at the county clerk's office?"

"I'm not sure I'd call it luck." Dean replied despondently. "Frank's wife, Jessie, was a manic-depressive. She went off her meds back in '88 and vanished. They found her two weeks later, three towns over. Strung up in her motel room, suicide."

Rose gasped quietly. "Tha's awful."

Sam glanced at Rose. Things got a lot more awful then that on this job. He had originally thought she might make a good hunter, but suddenly all he could see were her weaknesses. Her weaknesses and her possibility of not being human. "Any chance Frank helped her along to the other side?" Sam asked.

"No, Frank was working the swing shift when she disappeared. Airtight alibi." Dean started the car and they began to move at a snails pace through the town.

Rose noticed it instantly — how slowly they were moving. She pursed her lips and glanced around at the slowly moving past buildings. Rose knew there was something wrong with Dean, and the longer it kept going the more she began to fear that Dean was the next victim. Sam was in denial, either because he didn't trust Rose — which was completely plausible — or because he believed there was something else that could be giving Dean a rational explanation for being scared. Rose briefly considered Dean's stint in hell. However, despite some mental and emotional scarring, the man seemed otherwise fine. So what was Sam thinking about?

"How was Frank's pad?" Dean asked. When Sam didn't answer, Rose looked up and was shocked to see Dean glancing at her from the rearview mirror.

"Oh!" Rose blushed, having been caught in a completely other world. "Uhmmm… well we checked for EMF readin's, and sulphur and hex bags. Bu' we didn't find anythin', so…"

Dean nodded. "So probably no ghosts, no witches, no demons." Rose nodded at Dean through the rearview mirror. Sam leaned his head back against the headrest and groaned in frustration. His older brother glanced at him, amused. "3 down and 97 to go."

"Yeah." Sam agreed. He took a look around and suddenly it clicked. "Dude, you're going 20."

"And?"

"That's the speed limit." Dean never went the speed limit. Dean had no limit. He just drove.

Dean looked at his younger brother offensively. "What? Safety's a crime now?" Rose bit her lip in the backseat. She knew she was right about Dean, but how was she going to prove it? Maybe Sam would catch on, especially now that she'd pointed it out. However, Sam didn't seem to trust Rose, and Rose wasn't willing to wait until he came around.

Sam's head whipped around as he saw the entrance to their motel drive past. "Dude, where are you going? That was our hotel." He glanced behind him at Rose as she rummaged through one of the duffle bags. Well clearly he wasn't going to get help from her.

Dean gave his brother a look. "Sam, I'm not gonna make a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic. I'm not suicidal." Both the brother's paused. Dean frowned. "Did I just say that? That was kind of weird."

In the silence that followed that statement the static sound of the EMF reader went off. Sam turned around and saw Rose holding it up to Dean, a triumphant look on her face. Sam's eyes widened.

Dean saw his brother's reaction and checked over his shoulder. He saw the EMF reader by him and his eyes bugged out. "Am I haunted? Am I haunted?!"

* * *

Dean worriedly shifted from one foot to the other. "Ghost sickness?"

Sam crossed his arms and nodded. "Some cultures believe that certain spirits can infect the living with a disease, which is why they stopped displaying bodies in houses and started taking them off to funeral homes." Sam glanced around, Rose wasn't there and Sam needed to take advantage of that so he could talk to Dean.

Dean nodded and braced himself for the worst. "Okay, get to the good stuff."

"Symptoms are you get anxious...Then scared, then really scared, then your heart gives out. Sound familiar?" It was exactly how their victim, Frank O'Brien, had died.

"Yeah, but Sam, we haven't seen a ghost in weeks."

"Well, I doubt you caught it from a ghost. Look, once a spirit infects that first person, Ghost sickness can spread like any sickness through a cough, a handshake, whatever. It's like the flu. Now, Frank O'Brien was the first to die, which means he was probably the first infected. Patient zero. And Frank was in Maumee over the weekend. Softball tournament. Which is where he must have infected the other two victims."

Dean nodded. "So, ghosts infected Frank. He passed it on to the other guys and I got it from his corpse?"

Sam shrugged. "Basically. But there was something else I wanted to talk to you about too." He took a breath then said it. "I don't think Marion is entirely human."

Dean's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "I'm sorry — what?" He shook his head. "Sammy that's ridiculous. We put holy water and salt into her water the first day she joined us. We know she's clean."

Sam nodded noncommittally. "Yeah I know. But it's not like we haven't met monsters that can withstand that stuff before. Or maybe she isn't a demon, maybe she's something else. I just… there's something wrong with her Dean. And I know you like her, I'm sorry, but I can't shake this feeling that…"

Dean raised his hands to his face. He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. "Okay… Okay, fine. Let's get me sane, then we'll deal with Marion. Seriously man, great timing. Tell me this then let me go crazy? I don't want to have to deal with this shit for the next 48 hours."

Sam made a face. "More like 24."

Dean glowered at his younger brother. "Seriously man, why me? Why not you? I mean, you got hit with the spleen juice."

Sam tried desperately to hold back his smile. "Yeah, um, you see Bobby and I have a theory about that too. Turns out all three victims shared a certain, uh, personality type. Frank was a bully. The other two victims, one was a vice principal, the other was a bouncer." Dean stared at his brother, clearly waiting for him to continue. Sam rolled his eyes. "Basically, they were all dicks."

Dean rolled his eyes back. "Yeah well a monster's a dick too."

"I'm sorry?" Sam asked, confused.

"You said dicks are being effected. You'd think that'd apply to any monsters too. Marion isn't effected, and I am and we've all been in contact with each other, so she can't be a dick. So she can't be a part evil goddess-killer-witch-thing." Dean shrugged like it was as simple as that.

Sam frowned. "You're right. I didn't even think about that… All three victims used fear as a weapon, and now this disease is just returning the favour. All monsters use fear as a weapon…" Sam sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I don't know what got into me, Dean."

Dean wasn't paying attention to that anymore. He was frowning at his younger brother, displeased. "I don't scare people."

Sam half laughed. "Dean, all we do is scare people."

"Okay, well then, you're a dick too." Dean replied with all the grace of a five year old boy.

Sam shrugged and smiled, amused. "Apparently, I'm not." Sam looked around the parking lot. "Where is Marion, anyway?"

Dean's eyes widened and he scratched the back of his neck. "Oh… Uhh… I may have asked her to move our rooms." Sam made a confused face and shook his head in a silent question of 'why?'. "It's high." Dean defended himself as he glanced up at the third floor rooms. Sam rolled his eyes.

The brother's turned at the sound of boots on gravel. Rose smiled at them. "Well, it was a bit of an effort. Bu' I got two rooms on the main floor." She tossed Sam a set of keys and Dean another. "Did we figure out wha's wrong with Dean?"

Sam nodded. "After we cut down the list and just focused on what we could fix of the train wreck, Bobby and I figured out what was up." Dean's mouth opened in protest as he glared at his brother. Sam smiled cheekily back before quickly explaining what they were up against.

Rose nodded. "Right then. How do we stop it?" Dean smiled proudly at the blonde, always happy when she sounded like a hunter.

Sam nodded and buried the guilt he felt for thinking she was evil. "We gank the ghost that started all this. We do that, the disease should clear up."

Rose nodded again. "Makes sense. So who is it then?"

Dean looked to his brother, an eyebrow raised. "You thinking Frank's wife?"

Sam nodded. "Who knows why she killed herself, you know?" He looked around the parking lot again as he considered their next move. "I'll check Jessie O'Brien's body and see where she's buried, if she's our ghost or not. You guys should get researching in case it isn't." Rose and Dean nodded and headed towards the motel. Dean stopped and ran back to the car and pulled out his box of donuts. He smiled gleefully and gestured them towards Rose.

"Oh!" She peeked into the pastry box as they headed towards their new room, ignoring Sam's rolling eyes and comments of being childish. Rose picked out a bright sprinkled one, her eyes wide in delight. "Thanks." Dean winked in response, powdered sugar already spreading across his mouth. "So wha' are we gonna do? Just learn more about ghost sickness?

Dean shrugged. "Sounds like a game plan." Rose rolled her eyes, but she was smiling fondly. Maybe Dean was simply more easygoing, or it was the obvious tension of Sam not trusting her. Rose just felt at ease around Dean. Then again, it could simply be that all Rose thought about in his presence was that kiss.

They hadn't done anything since then. They'd firmly agreed in the parking lot before she left with them that they couldn't do that while hunting together. But Rose had spent two years dancing around the Doctor in the TARDIS when they first met. Although she'd never take back that time, she really didn't want to fall into that rut again. She didn't know this universe though, she had to respect Dean's wishes. It wasn't like she could even stay with him forever, he'd eventually die — just like her Doctor in Pete's World had.

Rose set her donut down on a napkin by the table Dean and herself had set up their books at. She very suddenly didn't want the treat. Rose shook her head, knowing she had to stop thinking about the Doctor. It had been centuries. She knew she'd never stop loving him — no. That wasn't what this was about. The Doctor was her lover and her best friend — past tense. It _had_ been centuries and Rose had moved past that part in her life. This was about Dean. She looked up at the man in question as he sat across from her engrossed in a book about as much as he was in his box of donuts. Rose barely knew Dean, but what she did know was that she didn't want to watch him die. She couldn't do that with anyone ever again.

Rose turned the page of the book her mind was absorbing without her actively paying attention. Her thoughts swirled around Dean, and their agreement to not let anything happen. It really was for the best. This way, Rose could learn what she needed from the boys and there would be no complications for her to leave afterwards. Every minute she was with the Winchesters was a moment towards their discovery of her secrets.

Rose glanced up at Dean when she sensed his suddenly agitated mood. He glanced up at the clock, a dark glare on his face. Then his eyes were back on the book, they darkened further and his fists clenched. Rose reached across the table and grabbed one of his fists.

"Hey." Dean looked up at her surprised. "You all righ'?" Dean looked around in a paranoid manner. He looked like he was going to answer, but his eyes drifted to the offending clock again. Rose looked at it too, not understanding what was wrong with it. "Can I ask you a question?" Distract him, Rose thought. Sam had mentioned the victims suffering from hallucinations. If Rose could keep Dean focused on something else, then maybe they could get through this.

Dean nodded. "Yeah, sure, what is it?" He glanced at Rose's hand over top of his own. Rose pulled her hand away and blushed prettily.

"Uhhh… I don't really think Sam trusts me… Or maybe he just doesn't like me? I was wonderin' if I'd done somethin' wrong?"

Dean's shoulder's sagged, resigned. "Damn it, Sammy. I'm sorry Marion, he just — I think he's a little overwhelmed." At Rose's confused look, Dean sighed and shook his head. "I guess you better know. I mean, it might change your opinion of becoming a hunter." Dean and Sam had decided not to tell her just yet, but what else was Dean supposed to say?

Rose frowned. "Dean wha's wrong?"

Dean stared at Rose for a solid ten seconds before he spoke. "The Apocalypse. It hasn't happened yet, but the demons are trying to start it."

Rose raised her eyebrows. She really wasn't expecting that. "The Apocalypse?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah. See, this demon named Lilith is trying to break the seals so Lucifer can be released from his cage." Dean narrowed his eyes. Alright, he could have handled that better. He watched Rose for any signs of freaking out.

"An' by Lucifer you mean—" Rose gestured with her hand, "— the Devil." Dean nodded. Rose frowned. She thought back to when she met the Beast all those centuries ago with the Doctor. She'd never actually met him, not the way the Doctor had. But he'd been terrifying nonetheless. He'd also been defeated, outsmarted by her younger self with a cute haircut and a gun. Rose nodded. "Alrigh'."

Dean's brows shot up. "Seriously?" He half laughed. "I'm not joking, Marion. This is actually happening."

Rose nodded. "Yeah, an' I believe you, Dean. 's just… well…" She paused as she tried to collect her thoughts. "If I can stop the Devil, then 'm gonna. This isn't his planet to take… and 'm not gonna let him."

Dean laughed. "What are you? Defender of the Earth?"

Rose smiled. "Yeah, I am."

Dean raised he brows and laughed. He leaned over and pulled a beer from the mini fridge. He handed it to Rose then grabbed one for himself. They popped the tops off and clinked the neck together. "Well," Dean said, "I'm glad we have a professional on the team." Rose laughed and drank her beer.

Two beers and a donut each later Sam arrived back in the motel room. He glanced at the beer bottles and closed research books. "Working hard are we?"

Dean raised his third beer and nodded slowly. "No worries, Sammy. We've got a professional." Rose smiled and winked.

Sam rolled his eyes and smiled. "Sure." He tossed the keys onto the table and sighed. "Well Jessie O'Brien was a dead end." He squinted his eyes. "Pun not intended. She was cremated, so I'm pretty sure she is not our ghost." He glanced at Dean who was aggressively scratching his arm again. "Hey, quit picking at that. How you feeling?"

Dean shrugged. "Awesome. It's nice to have my head on the chopping block again. I almost forgot what that feels like."

Rose frowned. "Does this happen often then? Gettin' infected and almost dyin', that is."

Dean nodded, a deadpan expression on his face. "If you aren't being infected by something every other hunt, you aren't doing it right." Rose nodded as she fought the smile that threatened to stretch across her face.

Dean hunched over suddenly and began coughing. Rose and Sam jumped up to help him, but he pushed them aside. He raced to the washroom as his body was racked with coughs. He chocked for a moment before he spit out a wood chip. Ignoring the blood, Dean picked it up from the sink and turned to his brother and Rose to show them.

Rose moved to his side instantly and rubbed his back. Dean barely noticed, so focused on Sam and his next words. "We've been completely ignoring the biggest clue we have, you." Rose and Dean stared at Sam, slightly aghast.

"A clue?" Rose questioned in disbelief. "Shouldn't we be tryin' to stop this, not watch and wait?" Dean glanced at Rose then back at Sam, nodding vigorously.

Sam clapped his hands together, suddenly excited. "No, think about it. The abrasions, this, the disease, it's trying to tell us something."

Dean shook his head. "Tell us what, wood chips?"

Sam smiled. "Exactly." He turned and grabbed the Impala keys from the table.

Rose glanced at Dean. "Is it just me or is he _enjoyin_' this?"

Dean's face stayed deliberately blank. "I'd say more so excited. Like a Chihuahua at treat time." Rose choked on her laugh.

* * *

Wow, you guys liked this a lot more than I thought you would. I can't guarantee any update schedules, but if you bare with me, we'll eventually get there.

Thanks for reading!

Comments and questions are more than welcome! I love talking about my stories and writing with anyone who is interested so just send my a PM or review below! :)


	4. Yellow Fever (Part 2)

Rose stood with Sam and Dean by the boot of the Impala. Sam was rifling through the arranged weapons for ghost hunting supplies, or that was what Rose was guessing at least.

Dean shook his head at the abandoned Lumber Mill before them. "I'm not going in there."

Rose smiled. "I thought the whole reason you even came along was so you could protect me?" The real reason was that Rose and Sam had both agreed Dean shouldn't be left alone at any costs. Someone had to keep him from hallucinating, which was the next stage that'd be starting very soon.

Dean laughed in a breathless, scared way. He gestured to the Lumber Mill. "No one, Marion, and I mean no one, can protect you if you go in there. It's a friggen death trap. It's probably haunted!"

Rose laughed. "Yeah Dean, I think tha's the point."

Sam rolled his eyes and handed Rose a flashlight. "I need backup, and you're all I've got. You're going in, Dean." Dean opened his mouth but Sam cut him off. "Marion is too new, she doesn't count. She's still learning this stuff Dean, I need you to watch out for her. You can do that right?"

Dean opened a whiskey bottle that was lying between two shotguns. He took a long swig then put it back. He nodded. "Let's do this." He glanced at Rose. "Not scared." He declared. "Not scared, at all." Sam handed a gun to Dean. Dean laughed in a similar manner from before. "Yeah, no. I'm not carrying that. It could go off." He picked up another flashlight and smiled proudly. "I'll man the flashlight."

Sam glanced at Rose who smiled amusingly. "My hero." She whispered. Sam rolled his eyes and closed the boot of the car. He turned and led Rose and Dean into the Lumber Mill. Light filtered through the high and dirtied windows. The Mill was silent besides the crunch of wood chips beneath their feet.

Sam turned on the EMF reader, which instantly began to spike. He stopped and turned to Dean. His older brother had wide eyes and was taking deep breaths, at the instruction of Rose. Sam couldn't remember a time he'd seen Dean so vulnerable. Even when Dean was dead, he was still strong.

"'s not gonna work is it?" Rose figured. Sam glanced down at the EMF reader and sighed. He shook his head and switched it off.

Dean made an apologetic face. "Sorry."

Sam's face hardened and he turned around. "Come on." They continued on through the Mill for another minute before a reflection caught Sam's eye. "Wait…" Dean jumped at the unexpected command and was quickly settled by Rose's hand in his own. He glanced down at their clasped hands. Part of him knew this was bad, it was going to lead somewhere bad. The other part was really happy that she was going to protect him — wait what? "To Frank. Love, Jessie." Sam read aloud. Dean shook his head of any Rose and Dean thoughts and focused on the ring. He took a deep breath and calmed his nerves.

"I thought Frank had an airtight alibi?" Rose asked.

Sam nodded. "He did… which begs the question, why was Frank here?" Sam nodded towards a door and the three of them made their way into a room full of lockers. A rustling sound emanated from one of the closed doors. Dean's grip on Rose's hand tightened until it was painful. Rose raised the flashlight to the locker as Sam slowly approached it. He glanced at Rose and quietly mouthed counting to three.

The locker swung open and a cat meowed grumpily.

Dean screamed.

Sam and Rose jumped away from Dean as his eyes bugged and he continued to shriek. He gasped for breath and nodded. "That was scary."

Sam raised his eyebrows, clearly not amused. He looked to Rose who was covering her mouth to smother her laughter. "Yeah…" He turned and continued through the Lumber Mill.

Rose grabbed Dean's hand and dragged him along. "Come on then. Can't get left behind, can we?" The two hurried after Sam who was inspecting something in the dim light of the Mill. Rose cast her flashlight over the object."Wha's that?"

Sam shrugged. "Just someone's ID, I think. Luther Garland."

Rose's face scrunched up a bit as she thought on the name. "I don't know the name, should we know the name?"

"Well it's certainly something to look into." Sam pocketed the ID. "Could be nothing though."

"Hey," Dean said. Rose and Sam turned to see him standing by a workbench, "this is uh...this is Frank's wife." They stepped closer and saw the numerous drawings of Frank's wife across the wall and on the desk.

"Oh, wow." Rose gushed. "Those are _gorgeous_." Sam and Dean gave her a look. "What? They are." Rose rolled her eyes. "All righ' fine, who drew them? Because if it wasn't Frank, I'm sure he'd want to know who it was, yeah?"

Dean reached forward and pulled a page from the desk. It caught on a nail and tore part of the page off. Rose gasped at the same time as the machines in the Lumber Mill all turned on. Rose and Dean both saw the ghost before Sam. They froze, neither knowing what to do. The man was gigantic, tall and round. He had overalls on that seemed to be dirty and destroyed as he hunched in the corner of the room.

Sam turned and raised his shot gun. "Hey!" He shouted at the ghost. It turned to Sam, eyes wide and scared.

"Dean!" Rose shouted. She raced after the rapidly fleeing man. Sam glanced over at them, shot the ghost with rock salt, then ran after the two. He exited the Mill and covered his eyes from the suddenly too bright sun.

Once his eyes adjusted he found Rose and Dean by the Impala. He walked towards them and sighed. They were sitting on the ground together leaning against the car's exterior. Dean had the bottle of alcohol from before in his hand and he was downing it. Rose looked up apologetically at Sam.

Sam shrugged and nodded in understanding. They had come to the agreement that until Dean was uninfected again, Rose was to stay with him and keep him calm.

Sam glanced at his brother again. He couldn't help but think about their father and what he would have thought of the situation. Probably something cold and commanding that would have forced Dean to fight his fears and get the hunt done. Sam sighed. "Guess we got the right place." Was all he said. He wasn't dad after all, and he wasn't going to try to be him.

* * *

"Marion, are you sure about this?" Sam asked nervously.

Rose nodded and glanced over her shoulder at Dean who was sitting on the bed trying to stop his legs from shaking. "Yeah, he's in no shape to go with you. And we can't leave him here, righ'? I'll take care of him, Sam. You find out about the ghost and let us know what you get, yeah?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. This is Dean's phone. Call if anything happens." Rose nodded and took the phone Sam handed to him. "I'll call if I learn anything." Sam started to leave then stopped and looked back. "And just… try and keep him calm." Rose glanced at Dean again who was taking another drink of whiskey. She gave Sam a worried look but nodded.

At the sound of the door clicking shut Dean glanced over to Rose. "He left?"

Rose nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed across from Dean. "Yeah… he'd gonna look into Luther Garland."

"The ghost."

"Yeah."

There was a long silence before Dean spoke again. "And he's going to pretend to be…" He gestured with his hand. "FBI?" Rose nodded, a slight frown on her face. Where was this leading? "But he could get _caught_."

"Dean, I think he'll be fine."

"You just think, though, you don't know." He leaned forward, his eyes wide and intense. Rose bit back the erg to laugh. It really was comical though. "He could get in trouble." Dean whispered.

"Alright." Rose moved so she was sitting beside Dean on his own bed. She took the whiskey from his hand and set it on the side table. Then she grabbed his hands and held them firmly. "Dean, let's just take a deep breath." Dean breathed in deeply. Rose watched him for half a minute. Dean continued to hold the breath in. She shook his arm. "Now let it out!" He let the breath out quickly. Rose sighed. "Righ', let's watch something, yeah?"

Dean nodded and turned on the television. They flipped through the channels until they landed on some cartoons. Dean looked sidelong at Rose. "You think Sam will find anything?"

Rose pulled the cellphone Sam had given her from her pocket. "I hope so. He'll call if he does." Dean nodded. "How are you? Feeling okay?"

Dean looked startled for a moment. "Yes. Why? Why wouldn't I be okay? Do you not want me to be okay?" Dean's eyes widened.

Rose took Dean's hand again and quickly cut him off. "No! Of course not, Dean. I jus' want to make sure you're alrigh'. Do you want'a grab some food?" Dean glanced around the room nervously. "I can order in." Rose offered. Dean smiled happily and nodded. Rose laughed and got up. She picked out the take out menus from a drawer in the side table and sat back down beside Dean. Rose looked over the various Indian, Chinese, and Thai food menus. She laughed. "Wow, feels like I live off this stuff."

Dean laughed nervously. "Yeah, I know what you mean." His eyes darted around the room, taking everything and nothing in all at once. Dean glanced at the menus. "Chinese?"

Rose smiled. "Oh definitely." She opened Dean's phone and dialled the Chinese place. Dean pointed out things on the menu and talked loudly the entire time she ordered. They argued a bit, and Rose won because Dean thought she was scary and wasn't afraid to admit it in his condition.

A few minutes later, Rose was pacing in front of Dean. "You're making me anxious." He told her.

She sighed. "I'm sorry. I jus'… I want'a know what Sam's doin'. You think he figured somethin' out yet?"

Dean shrugged. "He said he'd call."

Rose collapsed back onto the bed beside him. "Yeah, guess you're right." They sat in silence for a bit. The only sounds that broke the tranquility was the noise of the radiator and the bouncing of Dean as he fidgeted on the bed. "So wha' do we do while we wait?"

Dean rubbed his jaw. He needed something to distract him. He knew he needed that. He looked over at Rose — well he couldn't distract himself _that_ way. But… "Do you know any card games?" Rose quirked her eyebrow and smiled nervously.

A little while later, Rose and Dean were set up at the table surrounded by Chinese food playing a game of Go Fish. "Do you have…" Dean looked over his hand. "An eight of hearts?"

Rose pursed her lips. "Go Fish." Dean sighed a picked a card from the stack.

Dean eyed the blonde across from him. "I still can't believe you don't know how to play poker."

Rose shrugged. "I told you. 'm not much of a card person. Played a bit when I was a kid though." Rose moved her cards around. "Three of diamonds?"

"Go Fish." Dean took a long drink from his beer, and shoved a dumpling in his mouth. "But your husband must have taught you." He swallowed the dumpling and concentrated on his cards. "Four of spades."

Rose pulled one from her hand and handed it to Dean. He smiled like a child and giddily placed it face up on the table with his other pairs. Rose smiled. The distraction was certainly doing its job. Dean had calmed down considerably, he might even make it past the usual 48 hour mark. Rose was especially glad that the hallucinations hadn't started up. She figured they still had time though, so anything could happen. Rose shook her head and focused on the conversation and the game. "Go Fish." She said to his next request. "Yeah, my husband wasn't much into cards himself."

Dean's brows drew together. "So what did you guys _do_?"

Rose didn't know how to answer that at first. What did Dean think? That couples only played _cards_? Rose gave him a cursory glance and went back to her cards. "Oh you know," she smirked at him, "stuff. Jack of hearts?"

Dean laughed and shook his head. "Alright! Brits gone wild." Rose rolled her eyes and laughed.

The sound of Dean's phone ringing cut into the conversation. Dean jumped and squeaked. Rose gave him a wide eyed look as she flipped the phone open. "Yeah?" She nodded. "'kay." She nodded again and glanced at Dean. "Who? Oh, okay. I'll tell Dean?" Rose paused and listened to Sam on the other end. "Yeah of course… Playin' Go Fish." Rose laughed and said goodbye then she hung up the phone.

"Sammy?" Dean asked nervously. He rubbed his hands down the length of his thighs worriedly.

Rose smiled kindly at him, hoping to calm him down some. "Yeah, he said he went to the Sheriff's office, but he wasn't seein' anyone today. So he went to talk to Luther Garland's brother." Rose set her cards down and picked up a box of noodles and chopsticks. "So the brother said that lots of people were scared of Luther way back when, yeah?" Dean nodded as he ate another dumpling. "'cept Luther was a teddy bear, wouldn't hurt a fly. But apparently, the brother thinks that Frank killed Luther."

Dean shook his head. "Why?"

"Jessie worked at the Mill with Luther." Dean's mouth made an 'o' shape. He shook his head again, still not getting it. Rose rolled her eyes. "Luther had a crush on Jessie, and when she went missin', Frank thought Luther did it. They…" Rose made a face. "They dragged his body behind their car up and down the road by the Mill."

Dean rubbed his forehead as he absorbed that information. "What about Frank?"

Rose shrugged and shook her head. "Nothin'. Think he had too many friends in high places to put him away."

Dean looked down at his arm. "So that's what this is then, road rash. And I'm guessing Luther swallowed some wood chips when he was being dragged down that road."

Rose nodded. "So you're gettin' his symptoms then? Of how he died, tha' is."

Dean growled under his breath. "Lucky me. We need to burn this ghosts bones and get me to normal, pronto."

"Yeah, 'bout tha'." Dean looked up at Rose like a deer caught in headlights. Rose bit her lip. "Sam mentioned somethin' like that. He said it wasn't actually an option…"

Dean leaned forward across the table. "And why not?"

"I donno, somethin' about Luther's remains bein' spread across the road. He said he's gonna figure another way to do it."

Dean laughed. "Another way? What other way? _Ask_ the ghost to leave?" Dean stood up suddenly, knocking the chair he'd been sitting on back as he did so.

Rose stood up with him. "Dean what are you doing."

He pointed at Rose sternly. "Don't. I'm done with this. I mean, come on, Marion. What are we doing?!"

Rose looked around the table. "Eating?"

Dean shook his head. "No. We're hunting a ghost!"

Rose chocked back her laugh. "Really? Well we're doin' a pretty bad job of it, don't ya think?" Dean paused for a second and frowned in confusion. Rose pushed forward. "Dean we aren't doin' anything. You need to calm down. We can talk this out."

"No!" Dean shouted as he came round the table. Rose stepped between him and the door. "Because you know what Marion? You're worse than Sam and I. Why? Because you are actively choosing this life!"

"And that's a bad thing?" Rose tried desperately to keep her voice level, but she could already feel herself getting caught up in the fight.

"Yes!" Dean laughed at her like she was crazy. "Of course it's bad. Our lives suck. I mean, come on, we hunt monsters! What the hell?! I mean, normal people, they see a monster, and they run." Dean stopped and pointed at Rose. "You should be running. But you're not no, no, no, you — you are trying to _learn_ about things that want to kill us. You know who does that? Crazy people! You...are insane!" Dean moved past Rose towards the door.

"Dean wait!" Rose called. She moved towards him but he backed into the open doorway and gave her a mean look.

"NO! You stay away from me. I already have one sickness, I'm not catching yours as well!" The door slammed shut behind him as he stormed out of the motel.

"Dean!" Rose called. She searched the table and floor quickly for her cell phone. If she ran after Dean, they'd need a way to get a hold of Sam later. "Come on, come on, come on." She found it under the table and grabbed it just before racing out of the motel room. "Dean!" Rose stopped and looked both ways. "Damn it!" She shouted. She flipped open the phone and dialled Sam's number. "Dean's gone." Rose explained with out preamble.

"_What? What happened?_" Sam questioned from the other side of the line.

"I don't know! He just started to freak out, sayin' I was crazy because I wanted to hunt. Sam, I have no clue where he went."

"_It's okay Marion, stay where you are. If he comes back, lock him in the bathroom. I'm going to drive around town and try to find him_."

Rose nodded and took a deep breath. "Yeah, sure."

"_It's alright Marion. We're going to find him_."

* * *

Sam slammed the motel door shut behind him. His eyes search the small space expectantly, but all he found was the worrying face of Rose. "He didn't come back?"

Rose shook her head. "I'm so sorry Sam. I have no clue where he went." Sam sighed as he ran his hands through his hair. "You think he's in danger?"

"The hallucinations could start at any time now. Dean may be a hunter, but right now he's practically defenceless."

Rose abruptly sat on the bed and dropped her face into her hands. "This is all my fault." She mumbled into the palms of her hands.

Sam sat next to her and gently rubbed her back. "Not it's not. He would have freaked out about something sooner or later."

Rose gasped and sat up, eyes wide. "Wha' if he dies!" Rose turned horrified eyes on Sam. "Oh my god Sam. Wha' if I killed him?"

Sam shook his head. "Marion you didn't—" He was cut off as the door to the motel was thrown open once again. Dean slammed it shut again and locked it. He leaned against the hard wood and sighed. "I looked everywhere for you, Dean. How the hell did you get here?"

Dean glanced over his shoulder at his surprised looking brother. He spun around and took a seat on the bed across from Sam and Rose. "Ran." He replied easily. "What do we do now? I got less than four hours on the clock. I'm gonna die, Sammy."

"Yeah, you are." Sam replied. Dean's brows drew together in confusion. "You're going back."

"Back?" Dean asked fearfully. He glanced at Rose who sat impassively at Sam's side.

"Downstairs Dean, hell. It's about damn time, too." Sam looked to Rose. "We even carved out this bombshell to get inside your head." Rose stood and stepped towards Dean. Her hand reached up and gently brushed his shoulder, but her face remained cold and emotionless. "Truth is," Sam blinked and his eyes were black. Dean jumped back but Rose grabbed him and held him in place. "Sam was right all along. She's not human Dean."

Dean's eyes widened and he turned to Rose. She smirked slyly and pushed him against the face of the bed. Dean strained to get back up, but her grip was inhuman. Rose raised her knee to the bed and climbed over him. Her eyes twinkled and glowed gold. "Are you disappointed?" She leaned closer and smiled wickedly. Rose looked over her shoulder to Sam. "I think I hurt his feelin's." Sam laughed.

"No!" Dean shouted. He fought with all his strength against Rose's grip. But she held him firmly to the bed. "Get out of them! You leave them alone!"

Rose laughed and ducked closer to the struggling Dean. Her lips brushed his ear as she whispered, "No one's inside me Dean. Never was, never will be. I don't need a thing inside me to create nightmares."

Sam pitched forward so his face was also in Dean's view. "Dean!" He shouted. "Hey, hey, hey, Dean." He said, trying to catch his brother's attention.

Rose was cradling his head gently with her hands. "Dean? You alrigh'? Dean, please. 's me. 's — Marion. It's _Marion_."

* * *

Dean flipped through the channels on the television as he tried to find something non terrifying to watch. Rose sat beside him, biting her nail nervously. Sam had left almost an hour ago to meet up with Bobby.

The phone rang. Rose and Dean both jumped. Rose scrambled for the phone in her pocket and quickly answered the call. "Wha's wrong?"

"_Nothing_." Sam said on the other end. "_Don't worry. Just let Dean ride out the trip, okay? He's — he's gonna be fine. We got a plan_."

Rose nodded. "Great. Will it work?"

Sam paused and in that moment Rose felt her stomach lurch. Oh god, Dean was going to _die_. "_Tell Dean to hang in there_." The line went dead.

Rose turned to the anxious looking Dean. "He's got a plan." She said as confidently as she could. They had under two hours before Dean's heart gave out. Oh my god, she thought.

"Is it a good plan?" Dean asked. Rose shook her head and shrugged simultaneously. She had no clue. Dean nodded, resigned to his fate. "Right."

Dean shot up like a cat at the sound of barking outside the door. The door rattled and Rose jumped to her feet. "Wha'? What was that?" Something slammed against the door and the barking got turned to see Dean slowly backing away from the door. "Dean?" Dean shook his head.

Hell hounds. They were back. They were coming for him.

The door broke off the hinges and collapsed inward as a giant figure came crashing through the door. Rose jumped back when she saw the silver glint of a gun.

"Sheriff?" Dean realized. The man was pink eyed and swaying as he waved the gun towards Dean and Rose. "What are you doing?"

The Sheriff glared at Dean. "Why are you looking into Luther Garland's death?" He grabbed at his chest as he felt his heart constrict inside.

Rose stepped forward and gestured calmly with her hands. "Sheriff, there's somethin' wrong. You're sick, 'kay? I need you to give me the gun. You don't want to hurt anyone, righ'? Just breathe."

The Sheriff lunged forward and grabbed Rose by the collar. "Frank O'Brien was my friend." He shouted at her. Dean pushed forward to release Rose from the Sheriff's grip but the officer raised his gun, stopping Dean in his tracks. "So he made a mistake. So I didn't bust him. So what?" The Sheriff explained to the two hunters. "And you're gonna bring me down over that?!" He turned back to Rose and glared angrily. "No, ma'am." He brought the gun around and fired it. Rose collapsed to the ground.

"No!" Dean shouted. He lunged towards the Sheriff and knocked his gun away. They grappled and punched until suddenly the Sheriff was clutching his chest again. Dean's eyes widened as he recognized what was about to happen. "Al! Calm down!"

The Sheriff pushed Dean off of him with surprising strength and tried to pull himself away from the hunter. "Stay back." He gasped, his hand still clutching his chest. "They…" His eyes closed and his body sank to the ground.

Dean turned around and raced towards Rose's unmoving body. "Marion?" Her shirt was covered in blood — so much blood. He reached for her pulse. "No." He whispered. Dean cupped her face in his hands and tried to will her back to life. "Come on. Come on. _Please_."

"Oh Dean." A little voice greeted despondently. Dean jumped and turned to the little blonde in a pink dress sitting next to him by Rose's body. The gasp caught in his throat at the sight of Lilith. She shook her head sadly at Rose's body. "You killed another one didn't you?"

Dean shook his head. "What?"

Lilith giggled and lightly punched Dean's arm. "You're always doing that. Killing things you don't understand." Lilith sighed sadly. "Oh well!" Lilith bounced up to her feet and smiled down at Dean. "It's time to go back now."

Dean shook his head and crouched closer to Rose's body. "You – you are not real!"

Lilith smiled. "What's the matter, Dean? Don't you remember all the fun you had down there? You do remember. 4 months is like 40 years in hell. Like doggy years. And you remember every second." She clasped her hands behind her back and leaned towards him tauntingly. "I'm real Dean. I'm really here, and she's really dead."

Rose gasped and sat bolt upright. Lilith and Dean jumped back from the blonde as her eyes glowed gold, Dean clasping at his chest as he gasped in fear. "You are not real." He chanted as he squeezed his eyes shut. "Not real. Not real. Not real."

Rose crouched in front of Dean and grabbed his head as he rocked back and forth. "Dean, you need to calm down. Dean breathe, just breathe." Dean's eyes glanced over Rose's shoulder and widened. Rose looked in the same direction but saw nothing. The hallucinations, Rose realized. "Dean!" She shouted as she tried to get through to him. Dean fell back and his breathing became irregular as he continued to gasp for breath. "Damn it, Dean." No — this wasn't happening. She wasn't going to let him die. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

In that second Dean's eyes focused back in on her. They widened as he saw Rose's own eyes glow gold. The entire room erupted in bright light as Rose leaned over Dean, her hands on his chest. A burning feeling like liquid fire coursed through his body and everything around Dean was suddenly gold.

Miles away in an abandoned warehouse, the spirit of Luther Garland erupted into bright gold light before Bobby Singer and Sam Winchester. His screams echoing in the silence of the Lumber Mill.

Rose stepped back from Dean. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving. Was he—? Rose's breath caught in her throat. "Dean?" She choked out.

Dean groaned and it felt like the weight of three separate universes had been lifted off of her. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "What happened?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "Why are you covered in blood?"

* * *

Dean nursed the beer in his hand as he thought over the events he'd been told. They were on a side road by the highway, the area was empty for miles. Rose sat sideways in the shotgun seat of the Impala with the door open so she could rest her feet on the gravel. She watched the boys as they mulled over what had happened, her heart pounding furiously as she did so.

"Seriously?" Dean asked finally. "Vanished? Just like that?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know, Dean. It was weird. Like this bright golden light, right out of nowhere. I've never seen anything like it."

Bobby sipped his beer and nodded at Dean. "You should ask your angel friends about it."

Rose's jaw dropped. "Wha'? Seriously? Like feathery winged angels workin' for god? Those angels?"

Dean didn't look impressed. "Yeah, don't get too excited. They're just douche-bags in nice suits."

Rose smiled and bounced in her seat a bit. "Too late! Can I meet them?"

"No." Dean said at the same time Sam said, "Yeah Dean, let's all meet them." Dean glared at his brother. He pointed a finger at him and declared sternly, "No."

Rose pouted. "Why have you only met them, then?"

Dean rolled his eyes at Rose's petulant tone. "Because I'm special." He glared at her. "Drink your beer." Rose glared back at him and sipped her beer.

Sam and Bobby did nothing to hide their amusement at Rose and Dean. Sam twirled the empty beer bottle between his hands as he considered his brother. "Yeah. How you feeling, by the way?"

Dean shrugged. "Fine." He ignored Rose's piercing gaze on him. She'd seen him when he'd had his hallucinations. Rose knew the real answer to that question. "Like I said, don't remember a thing."

Bobby smirked. "You sure, Dean? 'cause this line of work can get awful scary."

Dean glared at Bobby. "I'm fine. You want to go hunting? I'll hunt. I'll kill anything."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Righ', 'cause tha's not overcompensation." Sam snorted and Bobby burst into laughter. Dean turned slowly and glared at the small blonde. Rose smiled, her tongue poking out of her teeth.

"Well aren't you two just the cutest damn thing." Bobby commented sarcastically. He looked sympathetically at Sam. "You have to live with that?" Bobby shook his head. "Well, we best head out if we want to make it back before night."

Rose looked between the boys. "Go? We're goin' with you?" She shook her head to clear it of the confusion.

Sam nodded and started to pack up the cooler of beers back into the back seat. "Yeah, Bobby found some stuff to do with the seals and Lilith. Thought we'd all head back and get cramming a bit."

Dean smiled down at Rose. "Don't worry, Marion. It won't take long, then we can hit the road again."

Rose shook her head again and stumbled to her feet. The beer she was holding fell to the ground. "Wha'—? Wha's goin' on?" She looked at the boys, bleary eyed and confused. Her eyes fluttered shut and she collapsed.

Dean caught her easily and hoisted her up into his arms. He nodded his head at Sam who opened the trunk of the Impala. Dean placed Rose in the boot of the car where the three men stood over her.

"You sure about this, son?" Bobby asked.

Dean nodded. "I saw it. She was shot in the chest. She died, and then she woke up, glowing. And she did something to me too. I don't know what, but… it effected Luther's ghost too."

Sam considered the peaceful face of the young woman. "So we figure out what happened, how she did it."

"And what she is." Dean added. He turned to Bobby. "The drug will last until we make it to your place?"

Bobby nodded. "And then some. But if she ain't human, then I can't guarantee nothin'. We better head out now."

Dean nodded. His gaze turned back to the blonde he had chosen to trust. "You fucked with the wrong boys, sunshine."

* * *

Rose awoke to the feeling of someone forcing water down her throat. She coughed and choked on the liquid as more was forced down. She ripped her head out of the firm grasp that held her in place and spat the water out. She continued to cough, her lungs burning and her throat was sore as she tried to expel the unwanted drink. When her fit had finally subsided, she dragged her heavy head up to stare at the Winchesters.

"Morning, dear." Dean greeted with a cruel smile.

Rose licked dry lips. Dry? Salt. Salt water. Of course. Her eyes flickered to the windows — it was night. "Hi, honey." Rose said roughly back. What the hell had they given her? Her body felt hard and heavy, like stone. She looked down at her arms and found them bound to the chair. She tried to move her legs, but found the situation there much the same. Rose's eyes moved to Sam. He was standing beside his brother with his arms crossed, face impassive. Rose sensed another person behind her, the person who held her head earlier. Bobby? It was probably his house they were at.

"Have a nice nap?" Dean asked snidely.

Rose bit her lip. She knew this wasn't going to end well. This was what she had feared was going to happen. The Winchesters found out she wasn't human. Rose couldn't even really act surprised. She had come back to life right before his eyes after all. Rose swallowed dryly before she pleaded, "Dean?"

"What are you?" He asked roughly.

Rose tried to look as defenceless as possible. "I donno wha' you're talkin' 'bout, Dean." She shook her head softly.

Dean's face hardened. "I saw you. I saw your eyes glowing. And then the ghost just magically up and glows itself away? No coincidence sweetie. What are you? A demon? A pagan god?"

Rose's face crumpled. "Dean, please." She implored.

"Is Marion even your real name?" Dean and Sam's eyes on her were heavy. The guilt of her own betrayal washed over her.

She hesitated. "My name is Rose Marion Tyler." Dean threw his hands into the air as if that made it all worse. "Dean, please! 'm not a demon!"

"Yea?" Dean spun around and stuck a finger in her face. "And why should I believe you? You've been lying from the start. Sammy even knew there was something off about you. But stupid me, I trusted you. So what is it? Lucifer? You working for Lilith?"

Rose looked between the boys desperately. Bobby walked around a red painting on the ground that Rose noticed was encircling her. The three hunters stood before her, armed, as they waited for her explanation.

"Dean I swear, 'm not here to hurt you, any of you. 'm a traveller." Dean rolled his eyes. "No listen — I travel through time," the hunters glanced at each other uneasily, but none of them were shocked by time travel, as Rose knew they wouldn't be, "and space." Sam's brows shot to his hairline and Dean chocked on his snort of disbelief. "'m serious! Look."

Rose's eyes glowed gold and the ropes around her ankles and wrists dropped to the ground. Three guns instantly cocked as the hunters prepared for her to attack. Rose simply crossed her legs as she made herself comfortable in her chair, then she pulled out a small device from her pocket. It was larger than a watch, but of a similar design. The material was a black metal that was far more sleek than anything the hunters had ever seen. There was a clear glass surface and when Rose tapped it, something the men could only equate to a digital hologram screen popped open. It hovered about a foot above the watch in the air like something out of Star Trek.

Rose looked up at the jaw dropped expressions of the hunters. She smiled. "I use this to travel, yeah?" She tilted it so the screen also tilted towards them. Sam leaned forward a bit to see the writing that was running across the digital surface. A constant stream of numbers and letters fled past with odd little symbols in between that he'd never even seen before. "'s a vortex manipulator."

Bobby rolled his eyes and pulled Sam back by his shoulder. Sam ducked his head. "And for those of us who slept through science class?" The elder hunter asked.

Rose licked her lips as she thought that question over. "Time is a vortex, yeah? Complete and total raw energy. This taps into it and allows me to move to any time, and any place I want in tha' time."

Sam lowered his hand gun slightly so it was pointing towards the floorboards. He quirked an eyebrow at the advanced technology in the woman's hand. "Where did you get it?"

"I built it."

Dean's brows shot up. "What? Seriously? You built that?"

Rose bristled at his tone. "Yeah, not just another pretty face — thanks." She turned the face of the vortex manipulator back towards herself and minimized the screen to the smaller glass surface. "I modelled it off my late husbands design."

Sam turned the safety on his gun on, then tucked it into the waistband of his jeans. He ignored the glare from the shotgun holding Dean. "He was a human?" Sam asked Rose. Technology like what Rose had was far beyond anything he'd ever heard of. Dean had time travelled, but that had been by magic. She could have been from the future, if she really was a time traveller.

Rose nodded her head from side to side. "Half." She finally answered. "Half human, half Time Lord." She slipped her vortex manipulator back into her pocket to avoid their stares.

Bobby's head cocked to the side as he thought over the name. He'd never heard of the title before. "What's a Time Lord?"

Rose drew her shoulders back defensively, she knew how this was going to go over. "'s an alien."

Dean burst into laughter. His gun dropped down to his side as he clutched his stomach. "Oh thats good." He pointed at Rose as he laughed. "You almost had me there for a second."

Sam glanced at his brother. "Dean, I don't think she's kidding."

Dean straightened. "What?" He looked at Rose seriously. There was no smile on her face, no hint of a joke. "You honestly expect us to believe in aliens?"

Rose glared at him. "I can't make you believe anything Dean. But you asked for the truth and tha's it. 'm not a demon and you can't hold me here." She crossed her arms and stared stubbornly ahead.

Dean glared back at her as he thundered, "Well you aren't allowed to leave either. Not until we get some answers."

Rose laughed humourlessly. "Wha's the point? You don't even listen. You don't care what I say, you want your theories to be right' and I'm sorry Dean. But you're wrong."

Sam placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and gave him a stern look. This was turning into a lover's quarrel and that was the last thing they needed. "If that thing really is what you say it is, why are you still here? Why didn't you leave before?"

Rose sighed and uncrossed her arms. She pushed a locked of hair behind her ear. "It broke down. Pollen from an alien planet." Dean snorted. "'s true!" Rose defended stubbornly. "Bu' it started back up again, bit after the third murder with the shifter. Look, I swear 'm not a demon or anythin'."

Bobby nodded as he digested that information. He glanced at the eldest Winchester with worry. That man wasn't going to let the whole probably-evil-and-a-demon rampage he was on go until they tested it out. "Well then you won't mind us testing you to find that out." It wasn't a question. They were going to test her for every damn monster they could find.

Rose shrugged. "By all means."

Dean's eyes blinked open. Sleep left him as he awoke in his warm bed at Bobby's. So very rarely did he ever actually use the room. His eyes focused in on the blonde facing him. Rose's light breath ghosted across his face from her parted mouth. Dean smiled and leaned forward. He placed a gentle kiss to her forehead, then quietly crept from the bed. He glanced down at the woman curled into the sheets. Rose moaned and wrapped herself around his pillow, her nose stuck into the corner. She was wearing his plaid shirt, so grossly large for her but — perfect.

Dean snuck out of the room and headed downstairs. It was dark outside, which meant they'd probably slept through the day. The main floor was devoid of sound or life, except for the kitchen. Dean stepped into the room rubbing his eye as he squinted at the light. Why would someone leave the lights on?

"Dean."

Dean jumped and spun around with a spatula clutched in his hand. Cas glanced unamused at the kitchenware. Dean sighed when he saw the angel. "Damn it Cas, could you knock on a door first or send a letter?"

Cas frowned curiously and titled his head. "Why would I send a letter to your subconscious?"

Dean opened his mouth, paused and closed his mouth, then opened it again. "Am I dreaming again?"

"Yes."

Dean paused as that knowledge came to him. Rose was not actually upstairs in his bed. They weren't together. They didn't hunt as a couple. Nor were they creating memories Dean would cherish for the rest of his life. Rose was an unknown monster of some kind, sitting in an uncomfortable chair in the dinning room. Dean threw the spatula down onto the kitchen counter. He was not upset.

"You are upset." Cas stated.

Dean glared at him, hands on hips. "No I'm not."

"Yes. You are. Why are you upset?"

"I'm NOT upset." Dean thundered.

Cas glanced up at the ceiling. "Dean," he whispered, "lower your tone."

Dean glanced up the ceiling too, not knowing what he was looking for. "Why?" He whispered.

"She'll hear us." Cas said quietly, his eyes still on the ceiling.

Dean shook his head slowly. "Who?" He asked. Who was there? "Rose? She's asleep up — no. But she is asleep — I think." They'd finished the tests and told her to stick around while they did some research. She'd been fine with it, passed all the tests with flying colours. Rose had seemed more than happy to help, complacent and compliant as she was. Dean must have fallen asleep whilst researching, again.

"You've dreamt her." Cas accused, he gave Dean the usual cold look the angel always seemed to have. Dean shook his head, not understanding the implications. "She is telepathic," Cas explained, "if she wants to, she can access the dream. You've allowed her entrance."

Dean took a step towards the angel. He pointed at him, catching onto the underlying tone. "And you're scared. Because she's evil, right?" He knew it. He so knew it. That lying little —

"We are uncertain." Son of a bitch, Dean thought.

He glared at the angel. "Uncertain? What — the big boys upstairs don't know who the little blonde girl is? Come on, it's not like she's the Big Bad Wolf."

Cas looked sharply at Dean. "What did you say?"

Dean stepped back. "Uh… What? Nothing, it's just a fairytale."

Cas moved closer to Dean, his gaze unwavering. "But why did you say it? What about her led you to that thought?"

"I don't know!" Dean exclaimed frustratingly. They both paused and looked up at the ceiling. They waited a full minute in silence before they dared drag their eyes away from the floor above. "Why?" Dean whispered. "What does it mean?"

Castiel stared at Dean uncomfortably. "I'm uncertain."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Is there anything you are certain of?"

"You can trust her."

"Trust her?" Dean hissed incredulously. "She lied. She's talking about aliens, for Christ's sake, Cas."

The angel looked confused. "So?"

Dean's face grew serious. "Cas, are you telling me aliens are real?"

If possible, the angel looked exasperated. "Humans. For all your strengths there are also faults. You are all so very self centred. First you refused the idea of the heliocentric universe, simply because you could not understand why God would not want one single creation to be at the epicentre of everything he has done. Now the world struggles with the fact they aren't his only creation. We are all creations of God, Dean. One day, maybe your species will leave it's cave and enter the light." Cas paused as he considered his own words. "Plato was so far ahead of you humans."

Dean blinked. That was far too much information for him to deal with on top of his current predicament. He bypassed the entire spiel and moved onto important questions. "How can I trust her if you don't even now what she is?"

"We don't know what or who she is. But we know her intentions. There is nothing but purity in the words she has spoken. She has secrets Dean, we don't know the level of danger these secrets hold, but currently she poses less threat than your brother."

Dean glared at the angel. "I told you. I have that under control." He'd talked to Sam and he wasn't drinking demon blood anymore. That wasn't a thing, nor would it ever be again. Dean was going to keep what was left of his family safe, even if that meant from themselves.

"See that it stays that way."

Dean jolted awake. He was lying on a small sofa in the library. Bobby was pouring over an old tomb by his desk and Sam was shuffling around the kitchen somewhere by the sounds of it. Dean rubbed his eyes.

"Well hello there Sleepin' Beauty." Bobby greeted sardonically. Dean groaned and pulled himself off the couch. He stretched and something popped. Bobby glanced at him, amused. "Gettin' a little old?"

"Feels like it." Dean looked around at the books strewn across the room. "Find anything?" He asked as he peeked through the doorway to Rose in the other room. She was still sitting in that chair. He'd seen her get up and stretch a couple times — not that he was actively watching, he simply noticed whenever she did it — but she had yet to leave the devils trap painted on the ground. Cas said she was pure in intention, Dean reminded himself.

Bobby took off his ball cap and scratched his head before putting the hat back in place. "Yeah, not that I can tell. Demon and witchin' books don't usually talk about aliens and time travel. That angel of yours transported you back in time though, maybe he'd know somethin' about this vortex."

Dean nodded. "He did."

Bobby set his book down. He waited a moment before he grew impatient. His eyes widened and he gestured with his hands. "_And_? I ain't gettin' any younger here."

Dean sighed. "She's clean."

Bobby shook his head. "Dean, she came back to life. That takes some serious power."

Dean nodded, his eyes still focused on the blonde in the other room. "I know. The angels say we should watch her, and that everything she has said so far is the truth." He turned to Bobby finally. "I'm gonna get some answers from her. Why don't you guys clear out?"

Bobby raised an eyebrow and gave Dean a long look. "Alright, I got a call about a job two towns over. Sam'll out it check to see if it's the real deal. I'm headin' up and gettin' some beauty sleep of my own." He stood up and started to head out of the room. He paused and raised a finger to Dean. "No funny business."

Dean smiled cheekily. "Well someone's got to get some under this roof."

"Ha Ha. You're _hilarious_." Bobby rolled his eyes and headed upstairs. Dean turned to the dinning room and his humour quickly disappeared.

Rose glanced up as she heard him enter the room. Dean walked across the hard wood floor and stopped in front of her. He crouched down so they were at eye level. Rose said nothing. "I have some questions for you, and I need you to be completely honest."

Rose nodded. "Alrigh'."

"Why did you stick around? You said your time machine started working up again before the third death. Why didn't you just leave?"

Rose shrugged as she considered the question. "By tha' point I'd realized somethin' was wrong. So I stuck around."

Which brought him to his other question. She chose the life of a hunter, "Why?" Dean asked, truly confused how anyone could ever want his life.

Rose leaned forward and her eyes glowed gold. Dean clutched the arm rest of her chair as he forced himself not to flinch away. "A great man taught you to fight for what's right. I had a great man teach me the same." The glow receded from her eyes though Rose's own eyes were still significantly gold tinted in colour.

"Are you human?"

Rose raised her eyebrows as she considered her answer. She hesitated. "I was born human. If tha's what you mean. But I doubt if I am anymore. A long time ago I had a chance to save the man I loved, and also the world. I took it. But it came with a price. I became sor' of alien. My own breed of different. There's nothing in any universe like me, Dean. 'm not a demon. 'm not really even an alien. 'm jus' me."

Dean rubbed his jaw as her words sunk in. "What did you do? To save the world?"

"I absorbed the Time Vortex."

Dean's brows furrowed. "You said that was raw power."

"It is." Rose didn't expand.

Dean gestured with his hand for her to continue. "And it gave you powers?" He prompted.

Rose grimaced. "Sor' of. I guess. I can't die, can't age. Can see the future and the past. Not all of it, mind, jus' bits and pieces. But since comin' here, 's all started to change."

"How so?"

"I've become more powerful. When I reach into the vortex, my eyes glow gold. But since I came here, 's like the vortex can reach me any time. My eyes won't glow. It jus' happens, yeah? There's somethin' off about this vortex. 's different from the one's 'm used to."

Dean took a moment to digest that before he spoke again. "What do you mean when you came here? Like this…" he gestured with his hand, "planet?"

Rose licked her lips. Another bomb incoming. "Universe actually."

Dean's brows shot up. He stood up and stepped away from Rose as that information sunk in. Rose leaned forward self consciously. "Do you want to take a minute?"

"No." He cleared his throat. "No. I'm fine." He turned to the unconvinced Rose. "Seriously." He pulled over another chair and sat it in front of Rose. He plopped down into it and rubbed his clammy hands along his jeans.

"'s why I used a fake name." Rose explained gently. "I dunno if there's another Rose Tyler in this world."

"Alright." Dean took a moment to absorb that. He didn't feel so betrayed about that lie anymore. "But you said the Time Vortex is different? Is it dangerous?"

Rose paused as she thought about that. Her brow furrowed. "I don' think so? 's sor' of like…" Rose paused and focused on Dean. "Picture a string of DNA, 'kay?" Dean nodded, slightly confused as to where this was going. "Everythin' about it is normal. Then there's this like extra strand of DNA attached. I can see it." Roses eyes turned gold suddenly. Dean leaned forward, drawn in by the ethereal glow this time. "It leaves sor' of like a residue behind. This gold an' glittery appearance." Rose's hand reached out and danced along the edges of Dean's arm. Dean's eyes followed Rose's wandering hand to his shoulder before it finally stopped. He looked up at her no longer glowing eyes. She smiled. "I've got it. So do you."

Dean raised his eyebrows, unimpressed. "I'm _glittery_?"

Rose laughed and drew her hand back. "Like a seven year old's art project." She smiled with her tongue poking out between her teeth and suddenly she was that barmaid again. Dean couldn't help but feel life was simpler when they'd been lying to each other. Rose leaned back in her chair and gazed around the room as she gave Dean time to digest everything they'd discussed.

One last thing was bugging him though. "Are you telepathic?"

Rose couldn't hide her shock. "How'd you know that?"

"Little birdie told me." Dean's face hardened a bit. "I asked you about your powers, and you didn't mention this."

Rose shook her head. "'s not a power. Telepathy is in everyone's capability, 's just a matter of if you were born with a higher affinity for it or not. I wasn't, but the vortex probably did somethin' to tha'. But tha' aside, 's still not a power. The only reason I even learned to use it was 'cause my husband was telepathic." Rose looked away as she became lost in a train of thought.

Dean studied her as he followed his own train. She wasn't human, but she wasn't evil. She'd done something for the earth, saved it, and in a sense she was rewarded. Though Rose probably saw it more as a curse than anything else. Maybe she really was good. The angels — though douche bags — were good. Creatures didn't have to be _evil_, did they? And Cas had said it, she was pure in her intentions. All she'd done from the moment they met is try and help people. That's what he did, wasn't it? He lied because people would think he was crazy otherwise. That's what she did too.

Or maybe he was just making excuses because he liked her.

"Alright." Dean announced. Rose turned to him. "Here's how this is going to go. You do everything I say. You don't get in trouble. You don't die. You don't do any of your," he waved his hand at her, "alien powers. One wrong move and I'll gank you."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "And if I decide to leave?" She didn't think she would, but she had to ask in case.

Dean's face grew serious. "I'll hunt you down, and trust me when I say I've got friends in high places."

Rose pursed her lips as she considered the threat. Even if he had friends who could travel in time, as he clearly had, would they be able to find her in any time across the universe? She highly doubted it. So if things with these boys did eventually go south, Rose figured she still had a way out. "Alrigh'. 's a deal."

Dean stood up and held out his hand. Rose took it and he pulled her to her feet. He pointed past her to the stairs. "Up the stairs, first door on the right. You can borrow the shower in there. I'll lay out some clothes for you."

Rose looked at him, confused. "Where are my clothes?" He hadn't gone done something stupid had he?

"In the Impala with Sam. He had to run out to check out a case. He'll call if he needs help." Yup, Rose thought, stupid. She nodded and headed up the steps and into the bedroom. Dean watched her leave the devil's trap and had to wonder, why didn't she leave it before?

Rose locked the bathroom door and stripped down. After flipping the lid of the seat down, she hung her clothes over them so they wouldn't get to damp or wrinkled. Then she turned on the shower and waited for the steam to start pouring out.

The shower was mainly a bathtub shoved into the corner of the room with a shower head coming out of the messily tiled wall. It wasn't anything fancy, nor was it the worst bathroom Rose had ever seen. It was clean, though that seemed more so from disuse than anything else.

She swung open the mirror to reveal the cabinet hidden behind. There was a shaver, aftershave, a toothbrush and floss. Rose raised her eyebrows. Well, it wasn't like she expected it to belong to a woman.

Rose closed the mirror and headed towards the heated shower. She tested the water on her hand then climbed into the bathtub. The hot water felt like heaven. She'd had a couple showers since travelling with the boys, but a motel shower and a real one were two completely different things.

Rose looked through the shower caddy and found some soap and hair products. She sniffed them and couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face. It was Dean's scent. She looked around the inside of her shower with renewed interest. Dean was letting her use his shower? Rose held the shampoo beneath her nose and savoured the intoxicating scent. She had never felt so giddy about using shampoo before.

Rose could hardly believe that Dean was actually letting her stay with them. She figured it was so they could keep an eye on her, but really. The fact that they weren't trying to kill her — anymore — was really good. The situation had gone much better than she'd hoped for. Now Rose didn't have to lie and if she found something out using Bad Wolf then she could tell the boys instantly. Rose smiled, it might actually make hunting easier.

A long shower later, Rose climbed out of the tub wrapped in a fluffy white towel. She peeked out of the shower into the darkness of the bedroom. The light from the bathroom spilled out and made a long rectangle across the floor and bed. Rose spotted some folded clothes on the edge and smiled. She flicked on the light and snorted at what Dean had laid out for her.

A red plaid button down, a plain white shirt and boxers. Rose glanced back into the bathroom behind her. The clothes she'd been wearing were her fake FBI clothes still. The last thing she wanted to do was wear those dirty things again. She turned back to the clothes on the bed and winced. Rose had never been one to wear her boyfriends clothes. Not that Dean was her boyfriend…

Rose sighed in defeat. The tower crumpled to the ground and she got dressed. She buttoned up the plaid shirt most of the way and rolled up the sleeves. The end of the shirt hung past her mid thighs, so she didn't feel to scandalous. The boxers seemed to help as well. They looked like long, grey cloth shorts beneath a very boyish plaid dress. Rose winced again, not her best outfit. But she couldn't argue with the comfort the clothing provided. She'd decided to forgo the white shirt and even then, she felt warm and shielded in the oversized clothes. Rose raised the button down to her nose and inhaled yet again more of Dean's scent. Yeah, she thought, he's never getting this back.

The house was almost silent when Rose headed downstairs. However, she quickly followed the sounds of someone in the kitchen. She paused by the archway to take in the sight of Dean standing in the kitchen with a knife in hand as he chopped away at some random food. Rose tilted her head to the side. Wonder if he'd make a good housewife, Rose thought.

Dean glanced over his shoulder at her. He paused when he saw her, his eyes widening a bit. Rose glanced down at herself. Nope, all bits covered. She looked back up.

"Hey." He greeted. He glanced at the potato in his hand. "Uh… you hungry?" He turned back to his cutting board and silently cursed himself. Of course he'd give her the exact shirt she'd been wearing in his dream. Why was he so stupid?

Rose walked towards him and noted the marinating steak and cut up vegetables. Her brows drew together. "What time is it?"

"Three am." Dean replied nonchalantly. He went back to cutting potatoes. Rose stared at him. Dean glanced back at her after a moment of silence. "Should I be taking that as a no?"

"Sorry." Rose shook her head. "Yeah, I could eat. Do ya need help?"

Dean plopped a bag of green beans in front of her. "Take the ends off of these?"

Rose nodded and began breaking off the tips of the beans. "Thanks for the shirts."

Dean nodded and hummed in response. They worked in silence for a few minutes before Dean finally burst out, "Alright I can't take it anymore. I gotta ask, do you have heat ray vision?"

Rose tried to hide her smile, but failed miserably. "Dean, 'm not Superman." Dean nodded and shrugged dejectedly, like a school boy who'd had his puppy kicked. Rose took pity on him. "Bu' I've never tried, so we'll have to test it out."

Dean smiled childishly and Rose couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up. "So what else can you do?" He studied her face as he asked. It didn't look much different, though he knew she wasn't wearing any makeup, since that had been with her clothes. Her hair had started to dry naturally, and he was happy to see it was a wavy, almost curly look. Dean always thought a woman looked more vulnerable without her makeup, so many of them wore it like battle armour. Rose seemed more comfortable with herself, almost at peace.

Rose's smile faded a bit. She looked at Dean worriedly. "You really wanna know, Dean?" Right, Dean thought. _Magic_.

Dean took a deep breath and let it out through his teeth. "Would it help on a hunt?"

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, probably. Bu' I thought I wasn't allowed to use my gifts?"

Dean dumped the potatoes into a pot of boiling water. He set the cutting board and knife back on the counter and turned to Rose. "I know what I said. But I don't think you're evil Rose." Rose smiled brilliantly. Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know, I'm an idiot."

Rose shook her head. "No. You said my name." Dean watched her as she went back to snapping the ends of the beans. He didn't know what to think of that. Rose certainly felt natural on his tongue, but he'd had no clue earlier that it wasn't her name. "Originally," Rose explained, "when I first noticed tha' is, we thought I'd just live longer than an average human."

Dean crossed his arms and leaned against the counter. "You and your husband?"

Rose nodded. "Yup." She replied, popping the 'p'. Dean noticed it was something she did usually when she was talking about her husband. "Then there was this invasion." Rose paused what she was doing and turned to Dean. "Tha' is one major difference in this world. Hardly any alien contact. In my home universe, if London wasn't about to explode, something was definitely wrong." Rose waved her hand and went back to the green beans, completely missing Dean's shocked face. "Anyways, alien invasion. I got hit by a sonic blaster."

Dean raised his eyebrows.

"Space gun." Rose clarified. Dean nodded. "And well, when I didn't die, it was sor' of a give away tha' somethin' was wrong. We did a bunch of tests and figured out I could, if I learned to harness it, control the Time Vortex."

Dean's mouth opened. He blinked. "Wow. That's like — major."

Rose laughed. "'s not as exciting as it seems." She glanced at him. "You jus' gonna stand and look pretty, or you gonna help me?" Dean stepped up beside her and started helping her with the green beans.

He preened a bit. "You think I'm pretty."

"Yeah," Rose sighed, "pretty lazy." Dean nudged her with his shoulder as she laughed. "Anyways, vortex, not as excitin' as it sounds. Controllin' the vortex is what allows me to see the past and future, but tha's about it."

Dean shook his head as he tried to make sense of that. "I don't understand. If that's all you can do, how did that save the earth?"

"This is just left over, the powers I have, they're nothin' compared to what I did when I had it swimmin' though me." Rose paused and stared at the counter. "I almost died." She whispered. "A human isn't meant to hold tha' sor' of power, nothing is. So I guess I changed myself."

"You guess?"

Rose shrugged. "Don't really remember to be honest. Bu' my husband told me."

Dean nodded and started throwing the ends of the green beans into the compost. "I still don't really understand what you can do."

Rose snorted. "That makes two of us, mate." She thought she did, and then she came to this universe and everything changed. New universe, new rules.

They cooked for a bit longer, chatting as they went. Dean told Rose more about the Lilith situation, everything that the angels had told him. Rose didn't have any new insight into the problem, but Dean wasn't too surprised by that. She hadn't even known what a devil's trap was until he explained it to her over dinner. They'd set up in the living room, with the food on the coffee table and the television quietly playing in the background.

"Oh… See, tha' makes sense." Rose nodded as she spooned some mashed potatoes onto her plate. "I thought it was sor' of like a line I shouldn't cross or you'd get angry. Never seen anythin' like it before."

Dean had to wonder how it was that she'd made a time machine that could fit on her wrist. "The symbols didn't give it away?"

Rose gave Dean a confused look. "Symbols?" She got up from her seat on the couch and headed into the dining room. She looked at the circle on the floor and turned back to Dean. "What symbols?"

Dean raised his eyebrows. He got up and made his way to her side. He pointed at one of the red symbols painted to the floor. "That's a symbol."

Rose shook her head. "That says, faith."

Dean frowned at the devil's trap. He looked back at Rose. "You can read the devil's trap?"

Rose's head tilted to the side as she read the words contained in the circle. "Guess so. Huh, I knew I could understand and read any language, bu' I didn't think tha' applied to archaic symbols."

Dean and Rose sat down together on the couch once again and dug into their meals. Dean glanced at Rose. "And here I was doubting your brilliance."

Rose nodded solemnly. "'s the hair, isn't it?" Rose picked up a lock and looked at it critically. "Maybe I should go back to brunette." Rose cut into her piece of steak and savoured the taste as she ate it. It felt like it'd been centuries since she'd had a home cooked meal. Vaguely, she realized that was because it had been. "So you let Sam off on his own cases sometimes?" Rose was surprised by this. She had the brothers pegged as a bit co-dependent, and extremely overprotective.

Dean sighed. "Not usually. But he was on his own while—" Dean paused and took a deep breath. He turned to Rose, eyes wide and vulnerable. "I was in hell." He said it like a revelation, a confession. He watched Rose, looking for disgust, horror, shock.

Instead, he found understanding. "I know."

Dean's eyes widened. That was the last thing he was expecting from her. "How did — no," she could see the past, of course she knew, that wasn't the right question, "how much do you know?"

Rose hesitated as she deliberated over her answer. "I won't tell Sam." She finally said. "Your secret's safe with me."

Dean sighed. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or upset. He wanted Sam to know but he didn't want to tell anyone at the same time. "No one knows." He whispered.

Rose reached across the couch and took his hand. "I know." It wasn't clear if Rose meant that she knew he hadn't told anyone, or if she was giving him strength in the knowledge that now she knew. Either way, Dean felt suddenly a million times lighter. For the first time since he'd risen from hell, he actually felt okay.

* * *

Thanks for reading! :)

Favourite part of this chapter?

ps. I was thinking about doing some original episodes in this story. But the plot is simply so ingrained into every episode, it's hard to even skip an episode and only do a couple in the season and make some others up to make it my own. So let me know what you're thinking, I'm open to ideas. PM too! I don't mind :)

Also, name mistakes involving the Rose/Marion alias has been fixed, thanks sunraye36!


	5. It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester

It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester

(Part 1)

"Alright, Rose. Let's try it again." Sam said. They were in the yard of Bobby's house, both dressed down in their workout clothes. Sam had wrapped Rose's hands to keep them from getting cut as they practiced her hand to hand combat.

Dean was sitting by a picnic bench drinking a beer while Bobby barbecued chicken behind him. It was nice out, especially for October, and Sam had wanted to get in one more outdoors practice before the weather changed. That, and they were planning on hitting the road soon anyways.

They'd decided to lay low for a week, teach Rose the basics of hunting. Dean had to admit it, she was a natural. It helped that she could understand any language put in front of her, and Bobby had been utilizing that skill as much as possible. Rose had already translated a number of books for him in his search for a way to stop Lilith.

Beyond languages, Rose had been easily picking up the ways to handle demons and ghosts, vampires and werewolves, the works. She still wasn't entirely on board with killing the monsters, Dean didn't really think she'd ever be. However, it seemed that in her mind that after second chances, mercy went out the window.

Dean's attention quickly drew back to Sam and Rose with the thump that emanated from his brother hitting the soil. "Like tha'?" Rose asked proudly.

Sam laughed and rubbed his bruised stomach. "Yeah, like that." Rose offered Sam a hand and pulled him up. "I think the Time Vortex is giving you a little extra strength there."

Dean smiled. "You keep telling yourself that Sammy."

Rose laughed. "Yeah, Sam, wha'ever helps you sleep at night." Rose plucked the beer from Dean's hand and took a sip before handing it back over. "You know, we should really invest in water, or juice. Somethin' tha' isn't alcohol."

Bobby snorted. "Yeah, y'all need to leave and take her with you." Rose and the boys laughed. Bobby fixed Rose with a serious look. "I don't need no woman in my house changing my ways that ain't my wife."

Rose smiled. "Why Bobby, is tha' a proposal?" Bobby rolled his eyes and went back to cooking. A phone rang inside the house and Bobby closed the lid of the barbecue before heading inside to answer it. Rose sat beside Dean on the bench and smiled excitedly. "We should do somethin' for Halloween."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, okay princess."

"'m serious Dean. We could dress up Bobby's house, hand out candy."

Dean looked over Rose's head to Sam, eyebrows raised. Sam scratched his head. "Yeah, Rose?" He started unsurely. "We don't usually do anything for Halloween."

Rose's eyes widened. "Wha'? Seriously? Never?"

Dean shrugged. "We're usually hunting. Halloween tends to be a hotspot straight across the country for monsters."

"An' this one ain't gonna be no different." Bobby interjected. He stuffed the cordless phone into his back pocket as he made his way over to the barbecue. "Just got a call from a hunter out some ways. He got wind of a case, but he's all wrapped up with a wendigo. How you kids feel about a little Halloween murder?"

* * *

"Now how many razor blades did they find?" Sam asked as gently as he could. Mrs. Wallace's husband was the first and only victim of actually swallowing razor blades hidden in halloween candy. Sam glanced to Dean and Rose as they searched the kitchen for hex bags. Razor blades in candy, definitely witches.

Mrs. Wallace hiccuped as she tried to keep her tears at bay. "Two on the floor, one in his stomach and one was stuck in his throat. He swallowed four of them. How is that even possible?" Sam opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. It wasn't possible, that's why they were there. Mrs. Wallace frowned at Dean as he opened the oven. "The candy was never in the oven."

Rose raised her eyebrow at Dean from the other side of the fridge. Dean cleared his throat awkwardly. "We just have to be thorough, Mrs. Wallace." Mrs. Wallace narrowed her eyes but Sam quickly cut in before she could comment further.

"Did the police find any razors in the rest of the candy?"

Rose bent down at the corner of the fridge as her eyes locked on a dark smudge. It was a stain from moving the fridge. Rose pushed her fingers under the fridge, completely ignoring the erg to freak out when they ran through a spiders web. Why would they have moved the fridge? Obviously not to clean it. When she got to the back corner she fit her hand inside the crack between the wall and the back of the fridge.

Dean crouched down beside Rose. "Got anything?" He whispered as Sam continued to interrogate the widow.

Rose stuck her tongue out between her teeth. "I think…" She plucked out the hex bag from behind the fridge and held it up triumphantly to Dean. "Ha!" Dean smiled and took the bag from her. He showed it to Sam over the widow's shoulder than stuffed it in his pocket.

Sam sighed and turned back to the wife. "Mrs. Wallace, did Luke have any enemies?" He said, changing his line of questioning to fit the monster.

Dean turned around and gestured to Rose's hand, covered in dust and cobwebs. "I'd clean that up." Rose glanced at her hand and shivered. She nodded and headed out of the house while Dean waited a moment longer.

"If someone wanted to kill my husband," Mrs. Wallace raged at Sam, "don't you think they'd find a better way than a razor in a piece of candy he might eat?"

Sam and Dean exchanged a look. You'd be surprised, Dean thought. He left Sam to finish the questioning and headed outside to meet Rose. She was standing on the porch with her arms crossed as she surveyed the street.

"Find anything suspicious, Agent Smith?"

Rose smiled at him over her shoulder. "Besides the hex bag?" He grinned and nodded his head in acknowledgement of her victory. Her smiled broadened. "Then no. Just checkin' out the decorations."

Dean stepped up beside her and took a look at the pumpkins and fake spider webs. "These people really don't know scary do they?"

Rose frowned and glanced over her shoulder to the house of the once Mr. Wallace. "_They_ certainly do." Rose shook her head. "Poor woman. Poor baby."

Dean scratched the back of his head. "I want to tell you it'll get better, Rose, easier. But it won't. Or at least, it shouldn't."

"Yeah," Rose sighed, "I guess when I travelled with the Doctor, all the darkness was counteracted by the wonders I saw. It sor' of balanced itself out. And I think a par' of me is still waitin' for that balance."

"The Doctor?" Dean asked.

Rose nodded. "My husband." Finally, Dean thought, a name to put to the person. But really? Doctor?

"Doctor who?"

Dean didn't know what was so funny about the question, but it made Rose laugh. Laugh harder than she had in the past couple days that they'd been training her and drilling her to translate ancient texts. Dean winced. Maybe they'd been working her too hard. She could use a break.

Hunters don't get breaks, his fathers voice whispered to him in the back of his head. Well, Dean thought, Rose was different.

Sam exited the house and the three hunters made their way over to the Impala. "So, witches?" Sam asked as they piled into the car.

Rose bounced in her seat excitedly. "Real witches!"

Dean raised his eyebrow at her. "Witches are not fun Rose. They're—"

"Powerful and dangerous and unpredictable." Rose mimicked over Dean's voice. Sam laughed at the scowl Dean shot the woman. "Dean, I remember what you said. But I mean, come on." Her serious voice and tone gave way to a grin of excitement. "_Witches_."

Sam laughed and shook his head. "She'll learn." Dean nodded once and continued on to the motel. "So his wife is pretty convinced he wasn't cheating."

Rose leaned forward and rested her elbows on the boys seats. "Do witches usually only do grudge killin's?"

Sam shook his head. "That's what so dangerous about them. They're human, which means they could have any number of motivations. But the usual MO does tend to be people who've wronged them. If you need a sacrifice for a spell, why kill the people you like?"

Rose nodded. "Righ'. Could have used that with some girls from school, tha's for sure." Sam smirked and nodded once. He could definitely agree with that.

Dean pouted mockingly. "Oh don't tell me little Miss. All Powerful One of a Kind Alien was bullied in school?"

Rose flicked Dean on the back of his head. "Wasn't an alien then, thanks." She frowned. "Wouldn't really say I am one now, I've been called a goddess before." Sam and Dean both raised their eyebrows at that. "Bu' I definitely wasn't a fan of school. Never even finished it."

Sam's mouth opened speechlessly. He shook his head. "You created a time machine that sits on your wrist, why would you drop out of school?"

Dean snorted. "Because she can make a time machine that sits on her wrist."

Sam rolled his eyes and Rose laughed. "Uh, no. Couldn't do that then either. Only recently became a genius with the vortex an' everythin'. My mind expanded, and I can pick things up a lot faster now. Helped tha' my husband was a genius, so he taught me a lot. But no, I was just a plain old drop out. Worked in a shop 'til I met the Doctor." At Sam's look of confusion Rose explained, "My husband." He nodded.

They pulled into the parking lot of the motel and Dean killed the engine. "Alright, well I'm going to get changed and see what dirt I can dig up on the victim."

Sam nodded. "I'll hit the books." They turned to Rose.

She shrugged. "I saw a Chinese take out place a little ways that way. I'm going to grab some food then I'll help Sammy with the books." The boys nodded and the three headed into the motel room to change.

Rose took the washroom and quickly striped off her FBI pants suit and donned her usual jeans. She pulled on Dean's plaid shirt with a jacket and smiled. It still smelled like him.

Rose stepped out of the washroom and Sam raised his eyebrows at her shirt. Dean frowned. "Am I ever going to get that back?"

Rose grinned. "Nope."

He rolled his eyes and pulled the Impala keys from the pocket of his newly donned jeans. "Come on, I'll give you a lift to the Chinese restaurant. See ya Sammy." Sam nodded at them absentmindedly as he hefted a box of witchcraft books onto the coffee table.

"Alright," Rose said with a smile as she slid into the passenger seat of the Impala. "Chinese, wha'd'ya want?" Dean pulled the Impala out of the parking lot as he thought over the question.

He shrugged. "I'm easy."

Rose laughed. "Really? Because I have not been gettin' that at all."

Dean slowly raised his eyebrows. He turned and gave Rose a look as they came to stop at a red light. Rose smirked at him and saw his mouth twitch as he fought to keep the smile off his face. "We talked about this." Rose shrugged lightly and turned her smirk towards the window. "In the line of work that we're in. We can't afford selfish distractions." They pulled into the parking lot of the Chinese restaurant.

Rose sighed. "In the line of work we do, don't you think we deserve to be selfish every once in awhile?"

When Dean didn't answer, Rose turned her gaze back to him. He was watching her carefully, his eyes narrowed and calculating. "Either you've rehearsed that line, or you've used it before."

Rose laughed and looked heavenward. "I don't know wha' it is about men who hate themselves, it might be my weak spot."

Dean raised his eyebrows amusingly. "Get out of my car."

Rose leaned towards him with her signature tongue in teeth smile. "No chicken balls then?"

"Out." He laughed. Damn it if she didn't move that fine ass of hers, he was going to kiss her. That smile. Why did she have to do _that_ smile. In _that_ shirt.

Rose laughed and leaned forward. She gave Dean a quick peck on the lips. "Bye!" Then Rose practically flew out of the car and into the restaurant.

Dean sat frozen for half a minute before he moved. He shook his head, gunned the engine and drove out. "That little flirt."

* * *

Rose's vortex manipulator beeped as she entered the restaurant. She lifted her wrist to fiddle with the suddenly active technology, her mind not really focused. Dean had clearly been surprised by her cheekiness. Rose was surprised herself. She usually wasn't so forward, dancing around the Doctor for years as she did. But maybe that was the reason. Rose had done the childish questioning and flirting and wondering and hoping. She wanted something real and tangible, and she wanted it now. Years alone had taught her to take the moments she had and cherish them. A hunter's life wasn't going to last long. If she was going to spend any time with Dean, she didn't want to waste it.

Activated. Rose finally registered. The vortex manipulator had activated. Rose looked up and her eyes widened. She wasn't in a the same restaurant. She wasn't even in a Chinese restaurant.

The entrance and doors were on the far side of the wall facing her. The wall had large wood panelled windows and led out onto a completely empty street. It looked a bit like a Mom and Pop shop, with checkered table cloth and wooden walls. There was a counter to the left of Rose and a massive oven, the smell of pizza doe hung in the air. Before her sat a man. He was older, with dark hair and eyes, a curved and pointed nose. His limbs were long and angular whilst the skin on his face hung in an almost emancipated way.

He looked down his nose at Rose as he cut into a thick slice of pizza. He gestured to the chair across from him. "Sit."

Rose didn't move. She surveyed the room once more, this time noting all the entrances and exists, closest weapons and how much damage they could do. "Where am I? How'd I get here?"

The man set his utensils down and took a sip from his glass. "You're in New York. Little Fonzerelli's to be exact. Very good pizza. As to how you got here, well that's a little bit more complicated don't you think?"

Rose crossed her arms. Not really, she thought. She knew how to activate someone's vortex manipulator from somewhere else in the same galaxy, even a different time if she was feeling clever. However, a vortex manipulator wasn't native to this new universe. "So how'd ya activate my vortex manipulator, then?"

He paused for a minute and gave Rose a long look. Rose held firm and refused to be intimidated by the oppressing aura of the man before her. "You showed me."

Rose smiled, amused. Well that was certainly interesting. "And just who exactly are you?"

"I'm Death."

Rose narrowed her eyes. She looked around, part of her thinking the Winchesters were about to pop out from around the corner. "As in…" Rose sighed. Oh god, was she really going to ask? She felt like an idiot, but really, in this world anything seemed to go. "The angel of?" Death nodded once. "Oh." Well then. "'kay."

Rose took a moment to process that information. Dean had said the Devil was real, angels were real. Demons, werewolves, vampires, shape shifters, ghosts. Why was the concept of Death embodied so hard for her to grasp?

"Pizza?" Death asked politely.

Alright, Rose decided, that was why it was so difficult. Not very Deathly.

Rose took a deep breath and nodded. She made her way to the small table and sat down across from… Death. She laughed. "I'm havin' pizza with Death."

"And I with Time."

Rose froze. "Wha'?"

Death raised an eyebrow at her as he picked up his cutlery once more. "Don't play dumb with me, dear. I know who you are, I know everything about you."

Rose blushed. It had been a long time since she felt like a child being scolded by her elder. "Righ'. Sorry. Don't usually mix up my own timelines anymore, learned to stay away from it. So 's all a bit strange for me, yeah?"

Death ate another piece of pizza in silence. He was either ignoring her comment, or didn't really care to respond. Rose fiddled with her fingers in her lap. Probably both, really.

"Is there a reason you called me here?" Rose asked after she finally plucked up the courage to do so.

"Eat." Was all he said in reply.

"But—"

Death paused in his eating, he gave Rose another long look. "Eat and then we'll talk, Ms. Tyler."

Rose swallowed. "'kay." She fumbled childishly with the fork and knife, her cheeks flaming, and cut into the slice of pizza before her. The taste made her mouth water. She'd never really been into pizza, more of a chips girl herself. But she'd never had pizza like this before.

Rose was halfway through her second piece before she spoke again. "So where did you say Little Fonzerelli's was?"

Death raised an eyebrow at her.

Rose smiled back teasingly. "Just tryin' to make conversation." She defended. "Ya know," she waved her hand, "how's the weather? Who won the match? Why are Death and Time actual beings and not just personified in literature in this universe?"

Death didn't move, his eyebrow stayed exactly where it was. High, and unimpressed with her antics.

Rose shrugged and went back to her pizza. "'s a valid question."

Rose continued to eat even when she noticed Death did not. He set his fork and knife down and rested his hands on the table top together. "It's simply the way this universe runs. There is heaven and hell. God and the Devil. Death and Time. Though we don't usually run on the same plane as all the other monsters and humans. You do like to make an exception. Don't you? Now, might I finish my pizza before it gets cold?"

Rose nodded. She finished her second slice and sat back. Death was still eating, how many slices he'd had already, Rose didn't know. She vaguely wondered if Death could have a high cholesterol. What happens when Death dies?

"You know," Rose started. Death sighed and looked heavenward. Rose smiled at his obvious grievance, "oh, calm down." She laughed. "I was jus' gonna say, although I don't know what you want from me as of yet. Nor do I know if we're goin'ta be friends or enemies. It's nice to hear someone else talk about other universes. Not so lonely."

Death didn't smile, but Rose could have sworn his eyes looked just a fraction of a bit lighter than they had before. "Yes, well…" Death took a sip of his drink. "Everything falls and everything fails. As beings of… a relative immortality and a redefined eternal being, we understand that far beyond all others."

Rose shrugged. "Which makes it all the more worth seein' and experiencin'. Moments pass so quickly. You've got to take wha' you have and treat it like a prize. 'cause tha's what it is."

"With an obvious degree of nonintervention of course."

Rose cocked her head to the side as she frowned. "'m sorry?"

"You are an Eternal, strictly speaking. You're a personified ideal, an imprint on this world if you will." Rose nodded, understanding what he was saying. "You cannot interfere with the matters of mortals and their lives. Fate has a plan for them, and she will be quite displeased if you interfere."

Rose's mouth opened wordlessly. "I…" She shook her head. "No. Wait — sorry. Are you tellin' me I need to stop hunting?"

"You should not be interfering with the Winchester's lives."

Rose laughed. "Oh you've got to be kiddin' me. Says who? I can do whatever I bloody well like."

"There are rules." Death intoned, his face growing more severe by the second.

Rose leaned towards him from across the table. "I'm not from this world. I don't need to follow your rules."

"You are Time." Death tried to reason. "You exist throughout this entire universe if you were born here or not. You are a part of the makeup of this universe, the structure of everything that is. You are wound into it like a knot."

Rose crossed her arms and fell back against her chair's backrest. "So wha'd'ya want me to do? Jus' leave Sam and Dean without a word? Sit on a cloud in the sky bored out of mind?"

Death sighed. "You are neutral. All immortal beings of our stature are. We cannot intervene on such a massive scale. We aren't supposed to at all. It is for good and evil to work itself out. However you wish to spend your time is your own. Helping the Winchesters, fine. But to a degree."

Rose laughed. "So you want me to do wha'? Jus' stand around and look pretty?"

Death raised his eyebrows, unimpressed. Rose raised her own likewise. After a moment of silence, Rose rolled her eyes and got up. "Thanks for the pizza. Definitely the best I've had." She lifted her wrist and tapped a few things into the vortex manipulator. "Next time you invite a girl out though, I'd work on the bedside manner. Could use a bit of work, yeah?"

She pressed a button and _POP_.

Rose looked around. She was standing in a parking lot beside the Impala. She glanced at the vortex manipulator's face, a few hours had passed. Rose rubbed her forehead.

Neutral? How was she supposed to stay neutral fighting demons and witches? Or did that just mean bigger picture? She could help the Winchesters now, but when it came to Lucifer, they were on their own? That seemed unfair. But really, Rose thought. When had things ever gone in her favour?

"Rose?"

Rose looked up and smiled at Dean. And another problem, she thought sadly. Did noninterference mean no mingling with humans as well? Was she really going to follow any of these stupid rules anyways?

Dean shook his head. "Rose, what are you doing here? I thought you were getting Chinese then going to help Sam?"

Rose nodded. Right. Food. Sam. Witches. "The restaurant was closin' early." What time was it? Oh, right, four in the afternoon. "Special holiday." Rose quickly explained before Dean could ask.

Dean raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Alright. Well I'm starved, so lets grab something from the store then head back." Rose nodded and climbed into the Impala.

"Did you find anything out about Luke Wallace?" Rose internally winced at her own question. Was that okay? Was that interference? Damn it! Why had she let Death get to her like that? She rubbed her temple annoyingly.

Dean shrugged. "Not really." He glanced at Rose. "Hey, you okay?"

Rose nodded miserably. "Jus' a headache." She sat up straight and pushed her internal dilemma aside. "I'll be fine." Rose smiled brightly. Dean didn't buy it.

"Are you sure? You seem a little… like you've got a lot going on all of a sudden." Dean frowned at her for a moment longer before turning back to the road.

Rose bit her lip and looked out the window. Dean really just had to be super perceptive, didn't he? Rose thought. Change of topic. Change of topic. "Awe, look at the witch." Rose pointed to a blow up air witch on someone's front lawn. "Maybe she's the culprit."

Dean rolled his eyes. "I don't even do Halloween and I know that blow up decorations are a cop-out." Rose laughed.

They pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store and quickly headed in. Dean picked up a basket by the door and the two of them wandered the aisles together. "Where's the pie?" Dean wondered aloud as they walked through produce.

Rose rolled her eyes. She picked up an apple and tossed it up before catching it again. "Ya know, if we had an oven, I could simply make you a pie."

Dean shrugged. "I'm not really into the frozen ones that you heat up."

Rose turned to Dean as he examined a bag of oranges. "Dean, I do know how to make a pie from scratch." Dean dropped the oranges. Rose quickly caught them before they hit the ground and placed them back with the others.

"From _scratch_?" Dean whispered reverently.

Rose smiled at him fondly. "You're crazy."

Dean moved towards the apples. "How many apples do you need? I can get a stove. I can… we." He paused and turned back to the amused blond beside him. "Next time we're at Bobby's, I want pie."

Rose smiled amusingly, but didn't argue. She took Dean's hand and led him away from the produce. "Whatever you say, sugar." When they reached the bread and bakery section, they picked up a ready made pie and added it to their basket of a family box of chicken and chips — fries, Rose reminded herself.

They were walking past the seasonal section when Rose noticed the Halloween candy. She quickly led Dean over. "Gummies or chocolate?" She questioned.

Dean raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that even a question?" Dean grabbed both and put them in their basket. "I may not celebrate Halloween, but I certainly eat the candy."

Rose nodded. "Yeah… but I mean, we could celebrate too."

Dean gave Rose a look. "What would we even do?"

Rose shrugged. "I donno, pass candy out at Bobby's? Dress up! Drink and eat candy?"

Dean shook his head. "Sorry sunshine, but we do that already." He paused. "Well we don't hand out candy, but we're always dressed up as what we're not. We drink, and no one can stop my candy consumption."

Rose laughed. "I've noticed." Dean smiled toothlessly. "Well, we could crash a party, there's always things goin' on with too many people to count."

Dean made a face.

Rose sighed. "Fine. I guess you're right. 's just such a shame. I love Halloween." Rose smiled fondly at a costume of a ladybug. "I could use a day where I'm not some all powerful being with big decisions and ironically little time."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Something you're not telling me, Rose?"

Rose laughed weakly and shook her head. "It's nothin'. I think I'm jus' home sick or somethin'."

Dean watched the blonde beside him as she fiddled with ladybug antennas sitting beside the bagged costume. She looked so lost and alone. Rose was, Dean realized sadly. She was literally the only one of her kind. Rose would never meet another person who would understand, who could do what she did. She also happened to be incredibly selfless and brave and god damn it, Dean didn't like seeing her so unhappy.

He reached forward and plucked a witch costume from one of the pegs. Rose raised an eyebrow. "What?" Dean said defensively. "You said we could crash a party, right?"

Rose smiled and nodded. "Yeah, but not wearin' _that_." She traded the witch costume for a red hood and a fake axe. She nodded. "That'll do."

"You know I have a real axe, right?"

"You know we're not gonna actually be killin' wolves right?"

* * *

Sam looked up when the door to the motel opened. Dean waltzed in and threw the keys onto the table and a few grocery bags on the bed. He popped a candy into his mouth as he nodded at his brother. Sam raised his eyebrows.

"Really? After that guy choked down all those razor blades?"

Dean shrugged. "It's Halloween, man."

Sam sighed and shook his head. "She got to you didn't she?"

Rose closed the motel door as she entered. "Guilty." She admitted with no remorse. She set the bucket of chicken on the side table and piled her groceries with the other bags on the first bed.

"I thought you were going to get Chinese and then help me out?" Sam asked, confused.

Rose shrugged. "Place was closed." She smiled excitedly. "So we got candy instead." Dean nodded and tossed Rose a chocolate candy.

Sam frowned at the both of them. "Seriously you guys. No halloween stuff. We agreed."

Rose shook her head and shrugged. "Well I didn't." She sat down on the bed nearest to the couch.

Sam gave her a patronizing look. "Well then you're going to be celebrating on your own."

Rose looked to Dean. She leaned towards him as she stage whispered, "Don't worry, we'll get him on board too." Dean nodded, assured.

Sam's mouth dropped a bit. "Are you guys serious right now? Halloween? It's a joke Holiday. It's a day for kids to get free candy for no reason besides capitalism and consumerism — if you can find the difference."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Don't be a downer." He sat down on the arm of the couch. "Anything interesting?"

Sam looked between Rose and Dean once more, clearly annoyed. He shook his head and turned to his research. "Well, we're on a witch hunt, that's for sure, but this isn't your typical hex bag." He gestured to the hex bag beside his computer. He'd untied the string and had gone through the contents of the spell.

Sam lifted a dried flower and showed it to Dean. "Goldthread, an herb that's been extinct for two hundred years." Rose got up from the bed and stood by Dean to see the flower. "And this—" Sam picked up a silver coin, "is Celtic, and I don't mean some new age knock-off. It looks like the real deal, like 600 years old real."

Rose raised her eyebrows as she turned the coin over in her hand. "Well it's certainly held up well. Remember seein' 'em make these. Didn't look too safe."

Dean and Sam exchanged a look. Sam narrowed his eyes slightly. "How old _are_ you?"

Rose looked up, shocked at the sudden question. She looked back and forth between Sam and Dean's curious expressions. She rolled her eyes. "Oi. Time traveller, remember? Not everythin' needs to be so linear."

Dean nodded. "Right. I guess the older you are the touchier you'd get about that sort of thing, right?"

Sam laughed at Rose's offended expression. "Anyways…" Sam coughed to cover up more of his laughter. Dean leaned forward and picked up a small charred piece. He smelled it. Rose raised an eyebrow and smirked. "… um… that is the charred metacarpal bone of a newborn baby."

Dean made a face and put the bone back. "That's just wrong." He wiped his hands down his shirt front. Rose covered her mouth to stifle her laughter. Dean narrowed his eyes at her. "You knew didn't you?" A short laughed escaped her and Dean shook his head. "And you let me sniff it?"

Rose shrugged, the laughter still prevalent in her voice. "Respect your elders."

Sam rolled his eyes at their antics. "Right, well. _Witches_. Remember? Because it takes a pretty powerful one to put a bag like this together. More juice than we've ever dealt with, that's for sure." Sam ran his hands through his hair and looked up at the two. "What about you? Find anything on the victim?"

Dean shook his head. "This Luke Wallace? He was so vanilla that he made vanilla seem spicy. I can't find any reason why somebody would want this guy dead." The three exchanged a look, each at a loss for what to do next.

* * *

It was late that night when they got a call about the second death. A girl had been boiled alive in a tub of water that was being used for apple bobbing. Sam, Dean and Rose descended the stairs into the basement of the house where the Halloween party had taken place.

They stood at the entrance and took in the scene of the crime. Forensics were still there documenting the scene and the police were questioning witnesses.

Rose eyed the apple bobbing tub. "Is it wrong tha' I really want to get in a hot tub right now?" She whispered to the boys.

"Yes." Sam said at the same time Dean said, "No." The brothers glared at each other over Rose's head.

Rose's shoulder's shook in silent laughter. "Righ', well, while you boys stare lovin'ly into each other's eyes, I'm goin'ta look for the hex bag." Rose headed over to the couch and began shifting through the cushions.

"Right." Dean moved to follow Rose, but was stopped by Sam's hand on his arm.

"Seriously?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Seriously what?" Dean glanced over his shoulder to Rose, thinking his brother was angry with them for something. He turned back and saw Sam incline his head in the direction of the witness, a young blonde girl dressed as a cheerleader.

Sam shook his head and smiled. "Wow, you must be more into Rose than I thought."

Dean frowned. He was not into Rose. Well he was. But that was none of his brothers business. They were friends and despite Rose's flirting that day — and that spur of the moment picture perfect heaven that was that kiss in the car — nothing was going to happen. Dean raised his hand when Sam moved towards the cheerleader. "You know what Sammy? I got this one."

Sam raised his eyebrows but didn't comment. He left Dean to his jail bait and went to help Rose search for the hex bag. Dean took one long look at Rose before heading over to the witness and officer.

"It's just so weird." The witness, Tracy, was saying. "The water in the tub – it wasn't hot, I had just been in there myself."

"Your friend didn't happen to know a man named Luke Wallace?" Dean interrupted. He turned a bit and Tracy instantly moved so her back was to Sam and Rose. Dean held up his badge for Tracy and said, "Agent Getty, F.B.I."

Tracy frowned and cocked her to the side. Her lips pouted a bit at the handsome FBI agent. "Um, who's Luke?" She asked innocently.

Dean kept an eye on Rose as she pulled back the cushions of the couch and carefully checked along the crevice for any tears in the fabric. Just like he showed her, Dean thought proudly. "He died yesterday." Dean explained to the girl. He took a deep breath and tried to focus on the girl in front of him, and not the one across the room.

Tracy shrugged and looked away. "I don't know who that is."

Rose turned to Dean and held up the hex bag, a bright smile on his face. Dean smiled back over Tracy's head. Tracy frowned at the agent and turned to see who he was looking at. Her eyes widened when they landed on the blonde woman in a pants suit, stuffing something into her pocket. "Are those your partners?"

Dean watched Rose talk to one of the forensics men as she pointed to the tub of water, a soft smile on his face. "Yeah, Agents Lee and Smith."

Tracy's head tilted to the side as she too watched Rose. "I didn't know FBI agent's came in threes?"

Dean grinned and lifted one of his shoulders nonchalantly. "Yeah, well, not everything is like the movies."

A few hours later and a quick change of clothes saw the hunters back in their motel room researching. Sam was lying on his bed surrounded in a pile of books and pages. The pages were of spells and passages from various musty books. Dean was sitting on the couch with the laptop, his feet propped up on the coffee table. Rose sat beside him, looking through the various items that had been in the hex bags.

"I jus' don't get it though." She said into the silence. "How did a couple of witches get a hold of centuries old baby bones?" She made a face at that sentence. The last thing she wanted to know was how the babies had died.

Dean looked up from the computer screen and saw her studying the charred bone that had been a part of the witches spell. "Powerful witches can learn spells to keep themselves young. Or cheat their way into looking different while staying older and prolonging their life. I'm not sure how long they can keep it up, but six hundred years might be the longest I've ever heard of."

Rose shook her head. "Yeah but tha's cheating. People can't just stay young forever."

Sam snorted and looked up from his books. "Says the girl who's how old now?"

Rose made a face at Sam and put the bone back with the other spell items. "Yeah, 'cept 'm not human. And I didn't make a deal with the Devil to be young again."

Dean raised an eyebrow at Rose and leaned back in his seat. His arm stretched out across the back of the couch as he got comfy. "That's true. But while we're on the topic, just how old are you?"

Rose turned slowly to face Dean. She pursed her lips as she considered her answer. "I don't know." She heard Sam laugh from the couch. She smiled and gave him a look. "'m not joking. Tha's how old I am. I don't know anymore. I could guess. I spent a hand full of generations in my old universe, and a couple centuries here before I got stuck and met you guys. So probably a good 1000 years, give or take a century."

Sam and Dean sat slack jawed as they processed that information. Sam shook his head, coming round before his brother. "But… wouldn't you get bored?"

Rose laughed. "'course! Tha's partially why I came to this universe. Not a big part, mind you. But still. And it helps to have the vortex manipulator, tha' way I don't have to live everythin' out linear-like. Incredibly dull, that."

Dean rubbed his jaw. "A thousand years." He said hoarsely.

Sam and Rose exchanged a look and laughed. "Right," Sam said as he got up from the bed, a book in hand, "I don't know about that, but I think I got something on this witch."

Dean and Rose set aside their research, ears perked for Sam's explanation. "We couldn't find a reason either of the vic's would have a witch against them. Or really anyone at all. But maybe that's because this witch isn't working a grudge, maybe they're working a spell. Check this out." Sam raised the book closer and read an inscription. "'Three blood sacrifices over three days, the last before midnight on the final day of the final harvest. Celtic Calendar, the final day of the final harvest is October 31st.' That's Halloween."

Sam turned the book around and handed it to Dean. Rose leaned closer to take a look. There was a picture of a monster rising from what seemed to be stone crypt built into the ground. All around it other creatures were also crawling out of their graves as two robed figures stood watch over the first.

Rose made a face. "Blood sacrifices? Wha' like anyone? I thought it was all hearts of virgins?"

Sam shrugged. "It doesn't specify, so I'd say the spell doesn't require any type of blood, just human blood in general."

Dean frowned at the picture. "Okay, but what exactly are the, uh, blood sacrifices for?"

"Uh, if I'm right, this witch is summoning a demon, and not just any demon – Samhain."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "The origin of Halloween?" Sam and Dean gave her a look that Rose rolled her eyes at. "Really? Have we not established this yet? Been around a while, picked up a thing or two — thanks."

Dean turned back to Sam expectantly. "Uh… Well yeah, she's Celts believed that October 31st was the one night of the year when the veil was the thinnest between the living and the dead, and it was Samhain's night. I mean, masks were put on to hide from him, sweets left on doorsteps to appease him, faces carved into pumpkins to worship him. He was exorcised centuries ago."

Dean turned to Rose, listless. "This is your favourite holiday?" Rose smiled unabashedly. "Okay, so some witch wants to raise Samhain and take back the night?"

Rose laughed.

"You guys, this is serious."

Rose nodded as she pressed her lips together in an attempt to stop the giggles. "We are serious."

Sam looked unimpressed. "We're talking heavyweight witchcraft. This ritual can only be performed every six hundred years. Tomorrow night."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Naturally."

Rose turned the page of the old manuscript to reveal the image of a horned demon standing in a sea of bodies. In his hand he held a head, the other carried a sword. "Well tha's not pretty. How can one demon bring so much destruction? I mean, tha's a lot of dead people."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, that's because he likes company. Once he's raised, Samhain can do some raising of his own."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"Dark, evil crap and lots of it, I mean, they follow him around like the friggin' Pied Piper."

Dean nodded as his mind ran over the amount of monsters this thing could raise up and the resulting ammo they would need to take that down. "So we're talking ghosts?"

"Yeah." Sam sighed, thankful Dean was finally taking the situation seriously.

"Zombies." Dean continued to list.

"Mm-hmm."

"Leprechauns?"

"Dean—"

"Faeries?" Rose piped in with a small grin.

Dean pointed at her. "Good one."

Sam ran a hand down his face. Exhausted with the couple's antics already. "Look, it just starts with ghosts and ghouls, this sucker keeps on going, by night's end we are talking every awful thing we have ever seen. Everything we fight, all in one place."

Rose bit her lip and played with her hoop earring. She looked to Dean whose face had quickly gone serious again. "It's gonna be a slaughterhouse."

* * *

The next day, Rose and Dean were staking out the Wallace's house. They'd gone to talk to her again, but there'd been no change in her story. Rose ripped open another chocolate candy. She was starting to feel the effects of all the sweets she and Dean had been having. Beside her, Dean took a deep breath and pressed a hand to his stomach. He glanced down at the pile of candy between them. "Why do I feel like that pile just keeps getting bigger?"

Rose laughed. "Maybe because you're throwin' the garbage back into it?" She picked up a handful of empty wrappers and tossed them into a shopping bag turned garbage.

Dean nodded in acknowledgement of the statement before turning back to the street. A couple putting up fake cobwebs caught his eye. "People put so much effort into Halloween. It's just a glorified day where kids can get candy."

Rose rolled her eyes. Now he sounded like his brother. "Oh please, you love it." She honestly thought Dean did. Sure the man fought monsters everyday, but he also was very clearly a man who — under different circumstance — would go out of his way for any family holiday.

Dean raised his hand and shook his finger at Rose. "No, no no. I love candy. Dressing up like monsters for fun and scaring children…" He paused and Rose smiled. Yeah, she thought. He liked Halloween. "Yeah, no." Dean denied. "Not my thing."

Rose shrugged, a smile on her face. "Well I love it. I'd dress everyone up, and we'd have a big party. Kids loved it."

Dean froze in his seat. He watched Rose as she smiled fondly and munched on her chocolate. Kids… Did she mean? "…Your kids?"

Rose paused. Her eyes widened and she turned slowly towards Dean. Her reaction said it all. Rose was a mother.

The cellphone rang.

Rose fumbled with the mobile for a moment, struggling to get it out of her pocket. She flipped it open. "Yeah?" She avoided Dean's gaze. He was not going to be happy.

Dean wasn't. He felt like an idiot. Over a thousand years old? Of course she'd had kids. She thought she was human when she first married her husband, hadn't she? They would've started a family, done normal human things. Why wouldn't she have had kids? Dean mentally slapped himself. That's probably what she'd been so down about earlier. It was Halloween, and she'd been thinking about her kids.

"Yeah," Rose was saying into the phone. "I understand Sam. But 'm tellin' you, there hasn't been anyone yet who's got a connection to both… oh my god." Dean and Rose both watched, stunned, as the cheerleader Tracy from the night before walked up to the Wallace house.

"_What?_" Sam's voice asked through the phone. "_Rose what's happening?_"

Rose turned to Dean. "Didn't you say she didn't know Luke Wallace?" Dean nodded, still watching the blonde. The teenager rang the doorbell and greeted Mrs. Wallace kindly, as well as the baby. She entered the house, picking up the infant from Mrs. Wallace's arms as she did. "Sam?" Rose said into the phone. "I think we found tha' connection. Guess who jus' walked up the Wallace's steps? Tracy, the cheerleader from last night." She listened for a moment longer before nodding her head. "Righ', yeah. On our way." She nodded at Dean and hung up the phone as the car started and they headed back to the motel.

They drove in silence for a full minute before either spoke. "So… you have kids?" Dean queried awkwardly.

Rose played with her hoop earring as she stared out the window. "Had. They passed away, like their father. I outlived everyone." She turned to Dean and asked softly, "Is tha' a problem?"

Dean met her eyes for a moment before turning back to the road. He shook his head. "No." And it wasn't. Sure, Rose had had a family, but lots of people had. It was nothing against her. He glanced at Rose. He just hadn't expected it. She might have been centuries old, but she still looked like a young woman. The idea of her standing beside her teenage sons was definitely a concept his mind was having a hard time wrapping around. "I am sorry though." Dean continued. "That they're gone, that is. Were they not like you?"

"Yeah, but in the end, not enough, I guess. My youngest boy, Ali, he was very attuned to the Time Vortex. He was also a lot like the Time Lords of his father. Perfect blend." Rose smiled fondly.

Dean grinned at the look on her face. "Yeah? And what'd he grow up to be?"

Rose's smile dropped. "He didn't." She whispered. "There was an accident in the lab where we worked one day, and he jus' happened to be visitin' and… he jus'…"

Dean silently berated himself. "I'm sorry." He whispered weakly, at a loss as to what else could even seem remotely appropriate.

Rose sighed. "It was a long time ago."

"That doesn't lessen the pain." Dean sympathized. He'd been out of hell for a few months now, and he could still feel the fire. It was a different kind of pain, but pain was pain. And it never really went away.

"No. It doesn't." Rose agreed. "Absolutely awful." She shook her head. "We never even found a body. And we always hoped, for his sake, he was somewhere safe."

Dean frowned in confusion. "That was a possibility?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah, the Doctor and I worked in this science lab. The Doctor had been working on our TARDIS." She paused and quickly considered how to explain that. "'s like my vortex manipulator, jus' bigger." She laughed lightly. "Much bigger. Anyways, we were both workin' on it actually. And another project malfunctioned. The TARDIS sor' of disappeared in the explosion, with Ali inside. The Doctor said the TARDIS could have travelled elsewhere, it was in working order for the most part. But the explosion would have messed with the circuitry, and where ever Ali ended up, he'd be stuck."

"So he got trapped in another time? He could still be alive?"

Rose shook her head. "Tha's what we thought could have happened. That he either was stuck in some future or past, or that he was on some alien planet. We had no way of figurin' it out, not at the time. I think the Doctor sor' of gave up hope after awhile. Ever the pessimist, blamed himself as the cause, same way he blames all problems. But… I did some maths. Years later after everyone had passed and new tech was developed." Rose played with the cellphone in her hands. "Honestly, 's the main reason I decided to come here instead of my home universe. If Ali survived in the TARDIS, it would have travelled sideways because of the explosion, not forward or back."

"Sideways?" Dean asked, confused.

"Yeah, through to a different universe. And the universe the TARDIS would have gone, was this one. I didn't know why at first. Travel through universes is supposed to be impossible. Bu' I think 's the magic here. Sor' of changes the rules. Anyways, I've been searchin' but…" Rose sighed and rubbed her face.

"You don't think he's here." Dean surmised. Rose shook her head. "But you did the equations or whatever right? This is the best possible place he could have ended up?" Rose nodded. Dean shrugged. "Well alright then. Stop Samhain. Stop Lilith. And search for Ali while we do it."

Rose smiled warmly at him. "Dean…"

Dean shook his head. "Don't worry Rose. We're going to find your son." Rose swallowed the lump in her throat. He said it so simply. As if it wasn't important or meaningful to anyone. He said it like it was a fact, and it comforted Rose more than she could explain.

* * *

It's a bit shorter than I'm used to, but the full episode is too long to post as one. So I'll be posting the next part in a couple days. Hope you liked this!

Thanks for reading! :)

(bit of an edit in the conversation with Death, sorry about any confusion)


	6. It's The Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester 2

Part Two

The Winchesters and Rose entered the art room hesitantly. Sam had done some digging and found out that Tracy had been suspended for a fight with a teacher recently. The three had quickly changed into their suits and headed out to the school to talk with the teacher. Then after Rose had turned her charm on the school secretary, they'd been directed to the art room with the promise that the teacher would be on his way shortly.

The art room was full of masks made by the students. Most hung along a wall to dry, others from the ceiling. Dean froze when a mask caught his eye. The mouth was hanging, frozen in a look of torture. While the eyes were hallow and black, contrasting against the paleness of the skin. Screams echoed from around the room, heat rose from the floor. The intensity of the temperature melted the soles of Dean's shoes, suffocated him.

Rose took his hand.

Dean breathed in a deep, shaky breath and turned slowly to the woman. Her eyes were warm, not hot like the memory of hell. She raised her other hand and gently rubbed Dean's arm. He smiled at her gratefully as he squeezed her hand.

"Bring back memories?" Sam asked, entering the room after them. He noted the hand holding but said nothing of it.

Rose smiled. "Oh yeah, art class was definitely not my thing."

Sam laughed. "Yeah I was more of a sciences and maths kid, a little english. Oh and history too I guess."

Rose and Dean turned and gave Sam a look. "Yeah," Rose said with a nod, "had a bit of trouble with tha' one."

"Which one?" Sam asked as he studied the masks on the wall.

Rose shrugged. "All of them." Dean smiled. He could relate.

Dean looked over and saw a teenage boy try to place a bong-shaped art piece into a kiln that was too small. He nodded towards the kid. "Now _that_ brings back memories."

Rose nodded slowly. "Oh… You were one of _those_ sort of kids."

Sam laughed at the look on Dean's face. "What sort of kid?" The elder brother inquired.

Rose shrugged and walked away as she said, "The sort I left school for."

Dean grinned chummily. "Guilty."

A man entered the room then and the three hunters turned towards the teacher, Don Harding. He was of average height with lanky brown hair. Rose's brows furrowed a bit as she studied him, he didn't look like an art teacher.

"I was informed some suits wanted to talk to me? You'd be them?" He smiled charmingly at them and placed his coffee mug on top of the box he was carrying. He held out his hand.

Sam shook his hand, careful not to spill the coffee. "Ah, Mr. Harding."

"Oh, please, Don." He reached forward and shook Dean's hand. "Even my students call me Don." He placed his box and coffee on his desk and turned back to the agents.

The three pulled out their badges as Dean introduced them. "I'm agent Getty, this is Agent Lee and—"

Don's eyes finally caught sight of Rose and widened. He held out his hand reverently to her. "Wow. Don, Don Harding."

Rose smiled, though she was sure it looked more like a grimace. "Agent Smith."

Don looked her up and down. Dean raised his eyebrows, unimpressed. "Agent Smith, might I just say. You. You are a work of art." Dean turned at that and looked at Sam over Rose's head. Sam raised his eyebrows at his brother and tried to not laugh at the situation.

"Uhmm.. Thanks." Rose looked down at Don's hand still holding hers.

Don shook his head. "No, I mean it. You're beautiful, I mean. Art worthy, really."

Dean rolled his eyes and said irritably. "Yeah, we get it Don."

Don looked up at Dean and his mouth formed a small 'o'. "Right, sorry." He dropped Rose's hand quickly. "So sorry."

Dean narrowed his eyes at the art teacher. "We just had a few questions about Tracy Davis."

Don frowned, confused for a moment before he caught on and nodded. "Uh, yeah, Tracy, uh, bright kid, loads of talent. It's a shame she got suspended."

"Uh, you two had a… uh, violent altercation?"

Don shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, she exploded. If Principal Murrow hadn't walked by when he did, Tracy would have clawed my eyes out."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"I, uh, you know, I was only trying to rap with her about her work. It had gotten inappropriate and disturbing."

Rose frowned. "Define disturbin'."

"She would cover page after page with these bizarre cryptic symbols, and then there were the drawings. Detailed images of killings, gory, primitive, and she would depict herself in the middle of them, participating."

Sam pulled out a small bag from his pocket. In it was one of the Celtic coins from the hex bags. "Symbols. Like this you mean?"

Don leaned forward to take a better look. He nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I think that might have been one of them."

Rose crossed her arms, a dark look on her face. She was almost completely convinced Tracy was their witch. "Where's Tracy now?"

Don shrugged. "I would imagine her apartment."

"She's got her own apartment?" Rose asked incredulously. Rose remembered leaving school when she was just a teenager, leaving her mum. It was not easy to survive on your own when you're so young.

"Yeah, she got here about a year ago, alone, as I understood it, as an emancipated teen. God only knows what her parents were like." Rose frowned at that comment. Something about it seemed more personal than critical. She glanced at Dean, but he didn't seem to notice. Maybe she was just seeing things that weren't there.

* * *

Dean killed the engine in the parking lot of the Moonlight Motel. He caught sight of Sam walking over and quickly got out, locking the car as he did. "Anything?" He asked him.

"Tracy was nowhere I could find. Any luck with her friends?"

Dean shook his head. "Nah, luck is not our style. Her friends don't know where she is. It's like the bitch popped a broomstick." They started walking towards their room and Dean took a look around for a certain petite blonde. "Did you see Rose come back?"

Sam shook his head. "No, maybe she found Tracy. Does she still have your phone?" Dean nodded. They stopped and Sam pulled out his phone to dial Dean's. They turned at the sound of Back in Black. It was coming from the Impala.

Dean took another look around the parking lot. "Shit." They headed towards the motel room again. "Let's check the room."

Sam kept his eyes on the tarmac in hopes Rose would suddenly appear. A tight knot in his gut told him she wouldn't. "Tracy could be making the third sacrifice any time. Rose could _be_ the third sacrifice."

Dean ground his teeth together. "Yes, thank you Sam." He said through clenched teeth.

A little boy dressed as an astronaut walked up to them and held a bucket of candy up. "Trick or treat."

Dean and Sam walked straight past him. "Not now kid." Dean called over his shoulder.

The kid glared at their backs. He turned slowly and looked at the shiny black car. He smiled.

Sam opened the door to the motel room and quickly drew his gun. "Who are you!?" He shouted at the two men waiting for them. Dean ran in and lowered Sam's arm.

"Sam! Stop, it's Castiel." He looked around as Sam stared at the trench coat wearing man. Dean noticed another man by the window. "Him, I don't know." But where was Rose?

Castiel nodded at Sam. "Hello, Sam." He greeted in his usual gravely voice.

Sam's eyes widened. "Oh my God – er – uh – I didn't mean to – sorry. It's an honour, really, I – I've heard a lot about you." He stepped forward and held out his hand. Cas looked at it and tilted his head to the side. Eventually he raised his own hand and took Sam's.

"And I, you. Sam Winchester—" He lifted his other hand and rested it on top. "The boy with the demon blood." Dean, mouth pinched in worry, closed the door to the motel room. He took one last look around before he did, wishing beyond all else that Rose would appear. They needed to find her, and fast. He turned back to Sam and the angels. "Glad to see you've ceased your extracurricular activities." Cas was saying. Sam's face fell and he stepped back from the angel.

The angel facing the window didn't move, but put in, "Let's keep it that way."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "You know what. I'd love to stay and play word games with you, chuckles. But we don't have time for this."

Castiel nodded. "This, the raising of Samhain, you haven't stopped it? Then I'm afraid you're right. You don't have time."

It didn't sound like he was referring to Rose. "What do you mean?"

"Have you located the witch?" Dean nodded. "And is the witch dead?"

Sam shook his head. "No, but—"

"We know who it is." Dean cut in.

Castiel walked towards the bedside table and picked up a hex bag. "Apparently the witch knows who you are too." He showed the bag to the brothers. "This was inside the wall of your room. If we hadn't found it, surely one or both of you would be dead. Do you know where the witch is now?"

Sam and Dean exchanged a look.

"We're working on it." Dean explained bitterly. Damn it, they needed to find Rose and they needed to find her now.

"That's unfortunate. Dean, this is one of the 66 seals. The raising of Samhain."

Dean looked incredulously between both the angels. "Seriously? This is all about Lucifer?"

Castiel frowned. "Lucifer cannot rise. The breaking of the seal must be prevented at all costs."

An idea hit Dean. "Okay, great, well now that you're here, why don't you tell us where the witch is, we'll gank her and everybody goes home." Especially Rose.

Castiel shook his head. "We are not omniscient. This witch is very powerful, she's cloaked even our methods."

Sam nodded his head as he absorbed that information. He noticed the tension in his brother. All Dean was thinking about was finding Rose and killing the witch that probably took her. He didn't have any patience for angels right now. But they needed to find the witch and the fastest way to do that was cooperation. "Okay, well we already know who she is, so if we work together—"

Uriel turned from the window. "Enough of this."

Dean glared at the angel venomously. "Okay, who are you and why should I care?"

Castiel looked nervously between his brother and Dean. "This is Uriel, he's what you might call a… specialist." Castiel sighed. "You both need to leave… before he destroys the town."

Silence.

"No."

"Dean, we're out of time. This witch—"

"I said no. There are a thousand people here and you're not going to murder them." He gestured between himself and Sam. "And we're not going anywhere. Not until we find Rose, and stop this witch."

Uriel walked towards them, a small smirk on his face. "Ah yes. Your newest whore. But this one he actually thinks he's in love with." Sam turned to his brother who astutely ignored the look of shock on his face.

Dean opened his mouth to defend Rose, but Castiel spoke first. "Uriel. Watch your tongue. We don't yet have answers to all of our questions." Uriel looked away, unapologetic. Castiel turned back to the Winchesters. "Look, I understand this is regrettable." Dean's jaw clenched. "But we have to hold the line. Too many seals have broken already."

Dean's eyes narrowed as his hands squeezed into fists. "So you screw the pooch on some seals and this town has to pay the price?"

Castiel glared back at Dean. "It's the lives of one thousand against the lives of six billion. There's a bigger picture here." Dean opened his mouth, but Castiel continued. "Lucifer cannot rise. He does and hell rises with him. Is that something that you're willing to risk?"

Sam raised his hands placatingly. "We'll stop this witch before she summons anyone. Your seal won't be broken and no one has to die." He looked between the angels, hoping they believed him.

Uriel's lip curled at what he considered to be the false sentimentality of the younger Winchester. "We're wasting time with these mud monkeys." He spat.

Castiel turned to his brother. "I'm sorry, but we have our orders." He looked back to the brothers, eyes wide. "We have no choice."

Dean scoffed. "Of course you have a choice. I mean, come on, what? You've never questioned a crap order, huh? What are you both, just a couple of hammers?" Dean shook his head and shrugged. "Well sorry boys, looks like the plans have changed."

Uriel raised an eyebrow, a sardonic smile on his face. "You think you can stop us?" The mere thought of it was actually amusing.

Dean glared at Uriel. He stormed forward, face and tone dark. "No, but if you're gonna smite this whole town, then you're gonna have to smite us with it, because we are not leaving. See, you went to the trouble of busting me out of hell. I figure I'm worth something to the man upstairs. So you wanna waste me, go ahead, see how he digs that." Dean stepped back and smirked. "Not to mention you're obvious fear of Rose. Well news flash boys, we know who she is. And if you did to, you'd be doing everything in your power to help us right now. Not stop us." Dean turned to Castiel. "We can do this. We will find that witch, save Rose and we will stop the summoning."

Castiel stared at Dean a moment longer, weighing his options. "I suggest you move quickly."

* * *

Rose's wrists hurt. At first she couldn't figure out why. Slowly the pain in her shoulders came into focus and with it, the blazing realization that she was tied up. Her eyes blinked open blearily and she looked around. It was a basement. She looked as far to the right as possible, where the rest of the room seemed to be. Rose just caught sight of what appeared to be an altar. She groaned inwardly.

Captured. Why was she always captured?

Now to get out. She twisted her wrists, ready to use Bad Wolf to untie the knots and free herself. She froze. Was she allowed to? Rose rolled her eyes. Damn it, she'd almost forgotten what Death had said to her. Would it be considered interfering? Probably. So what? She should just let Samhain be risen and kill billions?

What was she supposed to do? Eternal being, she scoffed. Being something required doing something. And yet here she was.

"Oh! I think she's waking up." A male voice said from behind Rose. She stiffened as she heard footsteps move towards her. Then Tracy and Don were both standing in front of her, smirking.

"Hi!" Tracy greeted brightly, cheerleader routine intact. "Have a nice nap?"

Rose looked back and forth between the schoolgirl and teacher. The witches. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." She groaned. Rose dropped her head back and looked up at her tied wrists.

"Fortunately, we're not." Tracy bright smile slowly melted into a sadistic smirk.

Don stepped towards Rose. "Oh just looked at her. You glow. Your powers just…" The witch shoved his nose into the crook of Rose's neck and breathed in her Timeless scent. "Perfect." He whispered into her ear.

Rose grimaced. She pulled back away from the man as far as she could before turning to the still smirking Tracy. "Please, jus' let me go. This doesn't need ta happen."

Tracy rolled her eyes. "Of course it does. We've been waiting for this for six hundred years. Do you know what that's like?" She paused and tilted her head to the side. "I guess you do."

Rose clenched her jaw. She looked back and forth between the ancient witches. They knew she was connected to Time, but that didn't mean… "You know who I am?"

Don snorted and leaned towards the tied up blonde again, just to see her attempt to squirm away. "What do you take us for?" He rolled his eyes and stepped away again. "Please. You're the Goddess of Time. Any being with even the most remote sense of power can see that."

Tracy nodded and moved out of sight. "Why else do you think we chose you?" Rose turned to see where she went, but was blocked by Don's smirking face directly before hers. "Now you'll be Samhain's final sacrifice," Tracy continued out of sight, "and his vessel. Then when Lucifer rises, he'll not only have Samhain by his side," the blonde returned with an athame in hand, "but all the power of Time as well."

Rose licked her lips as she eyed the ceremonial knife. She needed to buy time. Either until Sam and Dean showed up, or until she solved this existential crisis she was having. "Lucifer?" Yeah, she thought. Everyone in this world seemed to love to talk about him, Sam and Dean certainly wouldn't shut up about it. That'll get them going.

Don stepped toward Tracy and ran a hand through the younger woman's hair. "Yes, well… The raising of Samhain is one of the seals that need to be broken to release Lucifer."

Rose nodded once. "Righ', and there's no way I can convince you not to do tha'?" The witches burst into laughter. Rose sighed. "Yeah, thought not."

Tracy glanced towards the half window in the wall to Rose's left. Through it could be seen the falling rays of the sun. "Not long now. Just waiting for the moon to rise, and then you're done."

Don threw his hands into the air. "And our master rises!"

Rose's brows drew together. Moonrise. Okay. She could do this. Been in worse situations, her. "An' what do you lot get out of this, then?"

Tracy gave Rose a look not unlike one she'd received from the Doctor multiple times before. "We don't need anything." She replied snidely. "We're doing this for the love of our lord. To bring him back and take his throne and slaughter humanity as he should have eons ago!" Rose raised her eyebrows.

Don rested his hands on Tracy's shoulders as he pulled her back from Rose. His knuckles whitened as he squeezed the smaller woman, Tracy seemed unaffected. "And really," Don continued for the blonde, "if you had to choose a reward, bringing Lucifer out of the pit would be more than enough."

Rose nodded her head side to side as she considered that. "Righ', apocalypse. It all comes back to tha' doesn't it?"

"Well we've been planning it long enough."

Oh, Rose thought. This was where it got juicy. "Plannin'?"

Tracy leaned forward, amused. "You don't know? That's rich. Especially since your little boyfriend started this. The first seal…" Rose's brow furrowed and Tracy laughed outright. "We couldn't just start breaking seals, or we would have done this eons ago. No. The first seal had to be broken. A righteous man picking up a blade in hell."

"Dean." Rose whispered. Oh god, she thought, if he ever found out…

"Yup!"

Don nodded over the younger witch's head. "The Winchester started it. Without him, we wouldn't be where we are today."

"So wha' about the end?"

Don and Tracy exchanged a look of confusion before turning back to Rose.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Oh don't get stupid on me now." She paused when she heard just how much that sounded like her first Doctor. She shook her head. "If a specific seal started this, then 'm assuming a specific one will end it. Come one then. 'm gonna die anyways. What's the final play?"

Don smiled. "You're quite clever."

Rose shrugged as best she could with her arms still bound above her head. "Yeah, well, embodiment of Time and all. So… any spoilers?"

The witches looked at each other as they silently questioned whether it was worth saying. One half gloating, the other half worried that Rose seemed so confident. Tracy finally turned back to Rose, a gleam in her eye. "Lilith." She explained. "She breaks the final seal."

* * *

The sun was just setting over the crest of the trees by the children's park. Castiel watched the children skip by, laughing in their costumes and makeup. All of them, completely unaware. Blissfully ignorant.

"The decision's been made." Castiel informed Uriel.

Uriel, sitting on a wooden bench facing the park barked out a sardonic laugh. "By a mud monkey." He spat.

Castiel frowned. "You shouldn't call them that." He respected humans, admired them. God asked them to love them, and he really couldn't help but do that.

Uriel snarled at the children racing past. "Ah, it's what they are, savages, just plumbing on two legs."

Castiel's frown hardened into a glare. "You're close to blasphemy." Uriel sighed. "There's a reason we were sent to save him. He has potential, he may succeed here." Castiel moved towards his brother and sat on the wooden bench. He felt caged in this small body, sitting on this small bench. It still astounded him that both he and his brother could fit onto such a tiny construct. Heaven was so much larger than this world.

Uriel rolled his eyes. "He might, but his brother will only fail."

"Sam has stopped drinking the demon blood. Dean has confirmed it."

Uriel raised an eyebrow at his brother challengingly. "Is that why he's asking Dean Winchester to let him exorcise Samhain if he rises?"

Castiel frowned. His head tipped to the side for a moment as he listened into the brother's conversation. They were arguing. Castiel shook his head. "Dean won't let him."

Uriel sat back on the bench, feeling victory close in hand. "Sam Winchester will do what he wants. He was never as submissive as his elder."

Castiel glared at Uriel. "It's out of our hands."

Uriel squeezed his hands into fists. "It doesn't have to be." Castiel considered him. Always so quick to fight. A soldier and bloodlust were two different things in Castiel's eyes.

"And what would you suggest?" He asked his brother calmly, already knowing the answer that would come.

"That we drag Dean Winchester out of here and then we blow this insignificant pinprick off the map."

Castiel looked out onto the park and the children. The rapidly disappearing sun. Uriel, almost predictable in his constant rage. "We would be leaving behind Time. Destroying her possibly."

Uriel growled. "We don't know it's her."

"Dean called her the Big Bad Wolf." Castiel argued.

"He referenced a fairy tale. He has no clue the implications of his words. He knows we are scared of the girl, and he's using that fact to manipulate us."

Castiel shook his head. "That doesn't matter. At this point, the Goddess of Time is just as important as Dean Winchester. If Lucifer rises, if Dean fails, or _dies_. She may be our only hope."

Uriel hunched over as he rested his elbows on his knees. He laced his fingers together as he thought over that problem. "If we're going to have her support. We're going to need the child."

Castiel froze. He turned to his brother. "I thought that was a myth."

"Yes, well, so are we."

* * *

Don raised the athame in one hand and a chalice in the other as he recited an incantation in Latin. Rose almost rolled her eyes at his sloppy work. She could barely understand him, he'd be lucky if the spell even worked. Halfway through, Tracy grabbed the athame and finished through the words faster and with precise pronunciation.

Rose's eyes widened. Okay, she thought, that might work. She looked up at the knotted rope above her. Time was up, Sam and Dean weren't there and she needed to get out. Rose pulled at the rope whilst simultaneously trying not to gag on the dirty rag around her mouth. Just as she opened up Bad Wolf, the tip of the blade pierced her flesh and plunged into her heart.

A series of gunshots sounded as Sam and Dean raced into the basement. Tracy and Don fell to the ground, dead.

"ROSE!" Dean tucked his gun away as he raced towards the hanging body of Rose Tyler. "Sammy!" He cried as he got closer. He pulled the knife out as Sam cut the rope. Rose fell into Dean's arms, dead weight. "Shit." Dean hissed. He pushed back her hair and pulled the rag from her mouth. "Come on, Rose. Wake up. You did it before. You can do it. Come on. Wake up. Come back, damn it. _Come back_."

Sam touched his brother's shoulder. "Dean."

Dean jerked out of her brother's grasp. "No." He ground out, his voice already raw. "Shut up. Just shut up, Sammy. She's coming back. Just — just wait, damn it."

Dean's breath caught as Rose was suddenly yanked from his grasp. He flew backwards and slammed onto the hard floor, a feeling akin to his stomach ripping apart exploding in his abdomen.

Tracy's head shot up from the ground. She glared at the Winchesters as they withered on the cement floor of the basement. She laughed harshly. "Gunshots? I'm six centuries old and you thought you could take me down with a couple gun shots!"

Sam's face pinched in pain as he ground out between his teeth, "It seemed to work on Don."

Tracy raised an eyebrow as she rose to her feet. She nudged the male witch with her toe. "Yeah? Well my brother was always weak." She clutched her side, where one of the gunshot wounds was still bleeding. "Right. Back to work." She bent and picked up the chalice that her brother had been holding, then crouched beside Rose and pressed into her wound to allow a flow of blood into the silver cup. Tracy glanced over at Dean. "Sorry about your girlfriend." She smirked at Dean's expression and stood back up. "You know, back in the day, this was the one day you kept your children inside." Tracy explained as she hobbled towards the altar. "Well tonight you'll all see what Halloween really is." Tracy raised the cup above her head and began another Latin incantation.

Dean glanced over to Sam as his brother began to smear Don and Rose's blood across his face. Dean looked aghast. "What are you doing?" He whispered.

"Just follow my lead." Sam smeared blood across his brother's face just as a crack opened up in the ground. Black smoke poured out and swirled about the room for a moment before invading Rose's body. Dean tensed and moved to go to her, but Sam held him down. "Wait." Sam ordered.

Rose gasped awake as her body was physically pulled to its feet by the power of the smoke. Her eyes opened to reveal milky irises and pinprick black pupils. Dean's teeth ground together. The pain of whatever Tracy had done to him was gone, but a new one had filled its place. Dean would be damned, again, if he let that _thing_ walk out of here in his girl's body.

Samhain looked around inside of Rose's possessed body, his back to Tracy. He glanced over Dean and Sam, but seemed to be unable to see them. He turned and saw Tracy.

Tracy smiled lovingly. "My love."

Samhain raised Rose's hand to Tracy's face as he considered her. "You've aged."

Tracy ducked her head. "This face… I can't fool you."

"Your beauty is beyond time." A single breath passed before Samhain snapped the witch's neck. "Slag." He frowned. Where did that word come from?

Samhain turned, uneasy on his new feet. "Slag…?" He wondered aloud in his deceptively high pitched voice. He glanced down at himself. "Time…" There was something there, something glowing that he could feel right in the periphery. He smiled. "Might have been a slag, but she gave me _Time_."

Dean had had enough. Sam grabbed at his jacket to pull him back, but Dean shoved his brother off. "Rose."

Samhain spun around and narrowed his eyes at Dean. There was blood on the man's face, but he was standing. Samhain glared, those silly masks. He was saying something, but Samhain ignored him. He grabbed the man by the collar and slammed him against a metal post. Dean groaned. Samhain's hand found his throat and he squeezed the fragile instrument. The man in his hands gasped, words spilling forth in bursts of air. Samhain increased the pressure… until one word slipped out.

"Ali."

The pressure on the man's throat loosened. Samhain frowned and tried to increase the pressure, but he'd somehow lost control of the limb. The bright golden light in the back of his mind grew brighter.

"Think about Ali." Dean choked.

Samhain gasped as a foreign psychic force grabbed hold of him. He dropped Dean and stepped back as the psychic energy burned his body inside the Goddess of Time's. His mouth opened to scream, but all that left was his own black vapours.

"Sammy." Dean croaked out. He pulled the demon's blade from his jacket. "Sammy stop."

Sam's face scrunched in concentration as a line of blood trailed down from his nose. The blood pounded in his head. He didn't hear his brother over the power surging through his body.

Samhain's head snapped back as a bright golden light erupted from inside Rose's body. Her mouth opened and the light shone out like a beacon protecting the sea. Sam and Dean covered their eyes as the room filled with the magical light.

Rose's body dropped to the ground.

"Rose?" Dean raced towards the broken blonde goddess. He picked her up into his arms and pushed her hair out of her face. He checked her pulse and visibly sighed with relief when he felt one. "Rose…?"

Rose's eyes blinked open weakly. "I…I don't think we're gonna get to wear… our costumes this year."

Dean laughed, though it sounded far to watery for Sam to believe. "Yeah, next year, huh?" Rose hummed and her eyes fell shut again.

"We should get her back to the motel." Sam suggested into the silence.

Dean tensed and looked up. The blood was gone from his face, but Dean would never forget the sight of his brother using those gifts demons had given him. "Yeah…" He glanced around the room before lifting Rose up into his arms. "I'll meet you in the car."

Sam looked at the two dead bodies and witchcraft surrounding the room. He had a bit of work to do, and a lot of self loathing, before he met his brother by the Impala.

* * *

Dean turned to the angel sitting beside him on the park bench the next day, visibly confused. "Your orders were to follow my orders?" He had not been expecting that.

"It was a test," Castiel explained as he watched the children run past, "to see how you would perform under... battlefield conditions, you might say."

"It was a witch, not the Tet Offensive." Castiel smirked. "So I, uh, failed your test, huh? I get it. But you know what? If you would have waved that magic time-traveling wand of yours," or Rose used her time machine, Dean thought, "and we had to do it all over again, I'd make the same call. 'cause see, I don't know what's gonna happen when these seals are broken, hell I don't even know what's gonna happen tomorrow. But what I do know is, that this, here? These kids, the swings, the trees, all of it is still here because of my brother, me, and that beautiful woman waiting for me in my Impala. That's us."

"You misunderstand me, Dean, I'm not like you think. I was praying that you would choose to save the town." Castiel looked around the park. He tried to see what Dean saw. The brightness of the trees and grass, hear the tinkling of children's laughter. He liked to think they appreciated the same things. "These people, they're all my father's creations. They're works of art, and yet, even though you stopped Samhain, the seal was broken and we are one step closer to hell on earth, for all creation. Now that's not an expression, Dean, it's literal. You of all people should appreciate what that means." Dean grimaced as he looked away. He really couldn't deny it, could he? "Can I tell you something if you promise not to tell another soul?"

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Okay."

Castiel wrung his hands together. "I'm not a… hammer as you say. I have questions, I have doubts. I don't know what is right and what is wrong anymore, whether you passed or failed here. But in the coming months you will have more decisions to make. I don't envy the weight that's on your shoulders, Dean. I truly don't."

"And Rose?" Dean wasn't sure what possessed him to ask, but suddenly he needed to know. Castiel looked up at Dean, clearly just as surprised. "Have all your questions been answered?"

Castiel stared at Dean for a moment, considering his words before answering. "Many things have been revealed. But I fear that I will always have questions for Rose Tyler." Castiel paused and turned back to the playground. "Do you know what she is, Dean?"

Dean rubbed his hands together and swallowed, uncomfortable. "She said there's nothing else in any universe like her."

Castiel nodded slowly. "There isn't." Dean's heart thudded inside his chest. He knew it, he'd known for weeks now. But to here it confirmed by an angel of the Lord. That was something completely different. "She's what we like to call the Goddess of Time."

Dean chocked. "_Goddess_?"

Castiel turned to Dean and took note of the hunter's reactions. "Not the sort that you and your brother are acquainted with. Think of it more as a ceremonial title. She is an Eternal. Never living and never dying, forever constant. Even when this universe collapses, Time will always live on."

"I don't understand."

"She's the embodiment, Dean. Time is everywhere and all around us. And Rose commands it. In the coming battles, she will be invaluable to you. You are blessed that she even chooses to assist you. She's supposed to be neutral."

Dean shook his head. "That's bullshit. Rose wasn't born here. She's not some mythical creature. She was born human. She was raised human. You're making her up to be something she isn't. Sure she's got power, but she doesn't have to wield it like some ancient being. She's a girl. And sure, she's been around awhile, but that doesn't make her apart of your world. She's her own being. And you've got another thing coming if you think she's going to bow to your rules."

Castiel stood. "They aren't my rules, Dean. I'm glad Rose has chosen to help you. But you need to understand the implications of that act, and the way the rest of the universe will see it. She has picked sides. And evil will try to sway her now. She's turned herself into a chess piece. Rose Tyler may be the Goddess of Time, but I fear she will need your protection more than you need hers."

A flutter of wings later and the angel was gone.

Dean ran a hand through his hair. Well shit.

He got up and walked across the grass of the park to the parking lot where the Impala sat waiting for him. Leaning against the passenger door was Rose holding an ice cream cone. Dean raised his eyebrows. "You know it's November right?"

Rose smiled at him and licked along the edge of the chocolate, soft ice cream cone, where little bits had started to melt. "I don't discriminate my desserts based on weather."

Dean laughed. "No?" Rose shook her head and smiled. She offered Dean the cone. He plucked it from her hands and took a bite.

Rose's eyes widened. "Tha's not how you eat ice cream!" Dean laughed. Rose snatched the cone back and continued to eat her dessert. "So how'd the chat with the angel I'm not allowed to meet go?"

Dean could only just barely hear the pout in her voice. He rolled his eyes. "Rose. I told you, I didn't want to have to make you sit there and listen to that other angel douche bag if he showed up. Besides, Castiel isn't much of a people person… So I don't know how all that would have gone if you were there."

Rose raised her eyebrows and bit into the edge of the cone. "Somethin' interestin' then?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah… He… He said their orders were to follow mine."

Rose's eyes widened. "Seriously?" Dean nodded. "Tha's… really interestin'…" Dean watched the wheels turning in Rose's head. He considered questioning her, but decided he had enough to worry about as it was. He'd let her solve that problem, while he worked on the others.

Dean nodded and sighed. "Don't I know it." He walked around the Impala to the driver's side and the two of them piled into the car. Dean gunned the engine and they pulled out of the lot and headed towards the motel. He glanced at Rose as she finished her ice cream cone and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Castiel said something else." Rose hummed in response, lost in thought. "He said you're called the Goddess of Time."

Rose tensed. "I mentioned I'd been called goddess before." She glanced over at Dean who was giving her a hard look. She crossed her arms, slightly defensive at Dean's disapproval. "Yea, well I'm also called the Abomination, nothin' new here Dean."

Dean frowned. "Abomination?"

Rose nodded and waved her hand airily. "Yeah, 's the sort of name one picks up when they kill an emperor and destroy an entire race. I told you Dean, I swallowed Time to save the earth. It wasn't from pollution or the meltin' icecaps." Dean pursed his lips at that comment, not sure how to take it. He wasn't even sure what he had been expecting in response to his query, anyways.

Well, he might as well go all in. "He also said you're supposed to be neutral?"

Rose laughed shortly. "Oh my god. Not him too." She shook her head, clearly fuming.

"Too? Who else are we talking about here, Rose?"

Instead of answering, Rose ranted, "You're universe has this grand picture of who I am and how I should act and it's driving me absolutely mental."

"Rose this is serious, he said you're in danger from choosing sides."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Dean, 'm always in danger. 'm not gonna let that stop me from doin' wha's right. It never has before, and 'm not about to let it start."

They pulled into the motel parking lot. Dean turned off the engine and sat with Rose in silence. The tension from their minor dispute dissipated quickly as they stared at the cheesy purple coloured motel. Finally he sighed and said, "Do I have to?"

Rose gave him a look not unlike his earlier disapproving one. "Dean, you saw Sam. He tried to exorcise Samhain from me. And honestly, I think he would have succeeded if it had gone any differently."

Dean ran his hands down the thighs of his jeans. This was just one uncomfortable conversation after another, and he was not looking forward to another. "He said he was done with that."

"Yeah well, I think him quitting is more important than ever now."

"What do you mean?"

"Sam was used by the yellow eyed demon." Rose paused at Dean's look of shock. "Yeah, I might have done a bit of research while you talked with Castiel." Dean glanced down at Rose's wrist, where her vortex manipulator was firmly strapped. Dean glared at her. "Don't worry, I was very careful…" She paused and tilted her head as she considered her actions, "but I am sorry if Sam developed a bit of a big bad wolf obsession for a bit there."

Dean rolled his eyes and groaned in annoyance, thinking back to Sam's fairytale faze. "Rose that lasted months!"

Rose bit her lip and unsuccessfully fought back a laugh. "Whoops. Right. Sorry, not funny." Rose raised her hands placatingly. "Jus' hear me out. Sam was practically chosen at birth to be a leader in Hell. His entire life manipulated."

Dean scratched his head as he tried to remain nonchalant. "Is there a point here, Rose? Or are you just trying to make me hate demons more? 'cause I got to say, that'd be a tough mission to follow through on."

Rose rolled her eyes. "No Dean. What 'm sayin' is, what if the demons aren't done with Sam?" Dean didn't say anything. "He's drinking demon blood. For all we know tha' just sucking the humanity out of him. How are demons created, Dean? I don't like it. I think there's more to what they did to Sam and why than wha' you've been told. They're still using him and drinking that blood is just playin' into their hands. It needs to stop. You need to tell him this. He'll stop if he thinks he was helpin' demons."

Dean shook his head. "He won't listen. He's all strung up on that demon bitch Ruby."

"Who's probably using him!"

"You think I don't know that?"

Rose fell back against her seat. She sighed. "'m sorry. Jus'… When you talk to him, tell him my theory. Don't jus' yell and say it needs to stop. He needs to understand. He's a big boy. I don't think he gets enough credit."

Dean sighed. He banged his head against the car seat's head rest once, twice. Three times before looking over at the blonde beside him. "Yeah." He opened the car door and got out. Rose followed suit. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where are you going?" He wasn't going to do this chick flick crap in front of Rose. It was bad enough he had to do it at all.

Rose smiled. "Oh, you know… Jus'… wanderin' off." She stepped onto the sidewalk and started to head down the street.

Dean watched her worriedly. "Yeah, alright. Just don't get captured…again."

Rose laughed. She looked over her shoulder as she headed away. "Sorry, princess, I don't make promises I can't keep." She winked and smiled her signature tongue in teeth smile.

Dean rolled his eyes and shook his head, fighting the tingling in his chest he always got when she did that smile. He turned and headed inside the motel to talk to his brother.

Rose walked a little further down the street and rounded the bend before she lifted her wrist. She pulled back the sleeve to her jacket and typed into the vortex manipulator. She paused, taking a minute to consider her decision. No. Her mind was set. She activated the vortex manipulator.

_POP._

Rose glanced around her surroundings, not too surprised to find herself in another Mom and Pop pizzeria. A man sat a small table in the centre of the room.

"Time."

"Death." Rose smiled cooly at the pale and dark haired man. She stepped towards his table but didn't sit down.

Death took a long sip from his drink. "Congratulations on your defeat of Samhain. You could get an award in meddling with affairs you shouldn't."

Rose smirked. "Yeah, well, I learned from the best."

Death set his drink down. He leaned back in his chair and considered the Eternal before him. "Why did you come back?"

"To tell you you're wrong."

Death raised his eyebrows briefly. "Oh, is that all?"

Rose laughed. "No. You see, I saw it. Inside Samhain's head I saw all the death and destruction he was gonna cause. An' then I saw what Lucifer had in store, or at least once he was free. What Samhain was gonna do with him. Gives a girl a bit of perspective, that. An' I realized, I am Time. You said it yourself, she is an imprint of me on this world… and I would never want Lucifer to win. Time isn't neutral. You all don't have a grand plan for me. I have one for _you_. An' if Fate's got a problem with it, she can shove it. Because Fate depends on Time. An' I don't really think she's gonna wanna go up against her boss, do you?"

Death smiled. "Very good."

"Good?"

He nodded. "Yes." He gestured to the chair across from him, which Rose fell into rather ungracefully, still shocked by his answer. "Do you honestly think you'd stay friends with someone who forbade one of your core beliefs?" Rose opened her mouth, but no words escaped. _Friends_? "You needed to understand the importance of your role. It is magnificent, and it is horrifying. By choosing a side, you've placed yourself on the field of play. A field that both good and evil will have no problem manipulating to get to you. The Winchesters are your best shot at combating this. There is, however, other things you'll need to learn."

"Like wha'?"

"How to use your powers. They're different here, as you've already gathered. But there is more to it. I can teach you, if you'll let me."

Rose looked around the empty pizzeria. She didn't even know what country she was in. What the date was. Why the place was so… dead. "I can't tell Sam and Dean about this can I?"

"I wouldn't advise it, no. Though I'm sure a time will come where you won't be able to hide it anymore." Rose stared down at the slice of pizza before her as she thought. "So?"

Rose looked up, determined. "Teach me."

* * *

Thanks for reading! :)


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